


Trust

by DarkHououmon



Category: ChalkZone
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-17
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-18 08:38:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 40,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3563249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkHououmon/pseuds/DarkHououmon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"See? I told you she would be like the rest. Didn't I warn you?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trust

**Author's Note:**

> A story that was intended to be a short oneshot that somehow ended up much longer than I had anticipated. This takes place during the first couple episodes of ChalkZone, when Rudy hasn't yet told Penny about ChalkZone.
> 
> Inspired by Cutie Tabootie's theory about Rudy being so bullied, he stopped trying to make friends, and Penny being the first human kid to actually be nice to him.

**She’s going to be like all the others. Why don’t you just give up on her? Break it off before she hurts you. Just like all the others did.**

 

_No! Penny wouldn’t do that to me!_

 

**Oh? How are you so sure?**

 

_I...I just am!_

 

**Foolish boy. You’re just deluding yourself. You think that she would treat you any differently? What proof have you that she’d be nice to someone like you?**

 

_Well...she hasn’t been nasty to me... She hadn’t called me names or threatened to beat me up or anything... She seems so nice._

 

**So did all the others, kid. So did all the others.**

 

_You’re wrong about her! She’ll be different! I’m sure of it!_

 

**You never even spoke to her. You are basing your conclusions on assumptions. You know very little about her. You don’t know what she was like at her other school. You don’t know what kind of friends she might like to hang out with. You don’t know how loyal she would be. She might act nice but then stab you in the back.**

 

_No! You’re lying! Penny would never..._

 

**Again, you don’t know her. You never even worked up the courage to speak to her. And you never will. I think it’s best that you avoid that. Remember how all your other attempts at making friends turned out? Remember how they betrayed you the moment they had a chance? Remember that time when your comic was ripped apart right in front of you? Remember how that hurt?**

 

_I..._

 

**Face it, Rudy. Nobody would ever want to be friends with you. To everyone else, you’re just a weirdo. No one in their right minds would try to befriend you. So why don’t you just give up and accept your life as a loner? Trust me, it will be a lot less painful.**

 

_I won’t give up on Penny. I..I have to try..._

 

**Eh, suit yourself kid. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.**

 

Rudy laid on his back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. It was dark outside. He still hadn’t gone to sleep. He just couldn’t fall asleep yet. His mind was going a million miles per hour. There were so many thoughts fighting inside his mind. He could feel his head hurting from all the conflict. He tried to push it aside and ignore it, but he found it impossible. His head continued to thumb and almost vibrate from all the thoughts.

 

Yesterday, late in the day, there had been a new student joining their class. It was a bit of a surprise. It had been a long time since they last got a new student. Normally, Rudy didn’t pay this much mind. For him, a new student just meant someone else who might make fun of him, or just ignore him like how most students seem to do.

 

Today, however, was a surprise. The new student was a girl named Penny Sanchez. He recognized that last name. His parents had told him about a Mrs. Sanchez that was a vet. They only ever had positive things to say about her. Apparently they were childhood friends, although they went their seperate ways long ago. Thus is life. It must have been one big stroke of luck for her to move out here in Plainsville. He remembered how happy his parents were to see Mrs. Sanchez again.

 

And it turned out that Penny was her daughter. Mrs. Sanchez had stopped by the house to see her old friends and Penny had come along. Rudy, despite his parents’ attempts, locked himself away in his bedroom. He claimed to not be feeling well and just wanted some rest. The lie worked and now he was able to lay here, trying to think of what he was going to do.

 

He did feel guilty about lying. It wasn’t something that he particularly enjoyed doing. He would have loved to try to meet Penny. He never got a chance to talk to her the other day, nor did he ever make the attempt. He was just too shy. But maybe talking to her in his own home would have been easier. He did feel safe here.

 

And yet he still chickened out. He didn’t take the chance to speak to her and instead he was hiding up here. Oh why did he have to be such a coward?

 

He turned himself onto his side. He stretched his legs a little as he did so, creating a brief feel-good sensation in his muscles there. He had been laying down the same way for a while now. How long has it been? Probably hours now. A part of him wanted to get up and walk, but the other part just wanted to stay here. He didn’t want his parents alert to the fact that he had been lying about being sick.

 

He wasn’t sure how he was going to get to sleep tonight. He was so tired... He had to at least try. His eyes felt so droopy. The temptation to sleep was there, strong, calling out to him.

 

Yet he could not bring himself to go to sleep. Not with all these thoughts in his head. Not with the anxiety clinging to his stomach like this, making him feel sick. These thoughts weren’t going away any time soon. All he could do was stay up and try to get it sorted out the best he could in his head.

 

He recalled the argument that he just had with himself moments ago. He hated thinking those thoughts. He hated having doubts. He hated the part of him that doubted everything. He didn’t want to believe that Penny would turn out like the others. She...she couldn’t be like that, right...? She was Mrs. Sanchez’s daughter after all. And his parents seemed to like Mrs. Sanchez. Penny couldn’t possibly be...

 

But then again, it was not a good idea to judge someone based off of their parents. After all, a parent could be really nice and their offspring one of the nastiest people you could ever meet. Could Penny be one of these people? Could she be a wicked offspring? It was possible, but...

 

No, he couldn’t judge her that harshly. Not yet. He just needed more time, that’s all. He needed to get to know her first.

 

But...would he even be able to do that?

 

Yeah he liked her. He thought she was really pretty, and from what he saw of her during the remaining school hours, she did seem pretty nice. She didn’t give off that vibe that she would be nasty.

 

Then again, neither did the others...

 

Rudy shook his head. He tried to get that thought of his head. No, Penny would not be like that. He was certain. She had to be different. The other attempts at making friends ended in failure. But not this time. He swore to himself that he would talk to Penny and try to befriend her. He could do this, he...

 

He hung his head. Oh who was he kidding? He could never talk to her. Not after all his past failed attempts at making friends. Not after how many of them turned on him and hurt him in some way. Not after how several students, most predominantly Reggie, made fun of him or beat him up, whichever came first. He had long ago gave up on trying to make friends. He had tried time and again to make new friends and it always bit him in the back end. Perhaps that voice inside of his head was right. Maybe Penny wouldn’t be any different.

 

**Of course she won’t be... I’m telling you, just give up on her. You will feel much better never having tried than making an attempt. Just forget about her and move on with your pathetic, friendless life.**

 

_Well there’s Snap..._

 

**He doesn’t count. He’s just your imaginary friend that you made up years ago.**

 

_Penny might be different. She might..._

 

**Why do you cling onto such false hopes, kid? Face it. No one would want to be friends with a loser like you. So get over yourself.**

 

Rudy clutched his head tightly. The voice continued to taunt him. The voice that he knew was his own low self-esteem. It kept mocking him, telling him how much of a loser he was, how pathetic he was being in clinging onto hope, how foolish he is to think that Penny would be his friend. He gritted his teeth, feeling them nearly pop out of his head. He jerked his head from one side to the other. He could feel his body shaking as emotion swept through him.

 

No, he couldn’t let that voice control him. He couldn’t allow it to destroy and shatter whatever hope he had remaining. He still wanted a friend. He still wanted to hold out for the chance that things would be different this time.

 

He let out a groan and sat up in the bed. He pushed himself towards the edge, letting his feet dangle over his bunk bed. He turned his head looked out the large window. He could see the moon from here. It was nice and full, providing maximum lunar illumination in his bedroom. It was quite a pretty sight. But it also matched his solemn spirit quite well, the pale blue light making an excellent combo with his mood.

 

Rudy realized he wasn’t going to be able to sleep. As much as he didn’t want to, his only choice right now was just to walk it off. Maybe a midnight snack would help him feel better. Yeah, a glass of milk and a few cookies should do it. With that thought in mind, he jumped out of his bed and headed out of his room.

 

His parents were asleep. He could hear his dad snoring. The door was partially open. Still, he didn’t want to disturb them. So he walked slowly and quietly along the hallway. He headed towards the stairs. When he reached them, he was extra careful not to cause any of the steps to creak under his weight. Despite going slowly, he still made it at the bottom in no time at all. He immediately headed towards the kitchen.

 

He went over to the cupboard first. He opened it and grabbed one of the glasses from it. He then shut it and headed towards the refrigerator and got out the gallon of milk. He poured himself a nice, tall glass of the stuff. After he got his milk, he went ot another cupboard and got out the box of cookies his mom bought recently. He went over to the table and sat down on it. He began to enjoy his milk and cookies, hoping it would help him feel a bit more relaxed.

 

But even as he ate one of his favorite snacks, he still found it hard to clear his mind. The fear from before still clung to him. The slight nausea sensation that this created in his stomach made him almost lose his lunch. Eventually he had to stop. He leaned back in the chair and let out a sigh.

 

He wasn’t sure what he was going to do to get rid of this feeling. He didn’t know how he was going to stop himself from being ripped up inside. Was this how he was going to spend the rest of his life? Friendless and too terrified to make friends? To never give Penny the benefit of the doubt and offer her a chance? Was he really that cowardly?

 

**Yes, you are.**

 

_Shut up!_

 

**Heheheh...I’m just speaking the truth.**

 

Rudy shook his head. That darn voice... Why wouldn’t it leave him alone? Why coudln’t it just leave him in peace? What did he ever do to deserve this?

 

He clutched his head tightly, digging his fingernails into his scalp. He seethed in frustration. He could feel his emotion practically boiling inside of him. His body quaked. The temptation to scream was strong, and it took him all his strength to hold back.

 

But it didn’t last forever. His will was just too weak. He couldn’t control himself any longer. He opened his mouth and began to let out a scream.

 

“Rudy? What are you doing up at this hour?”

 

Rudy nearly choked on his own scream when he heard his mother call out to him. He turned his head towards her. Her mother stood at the entrance to the kitchen, wearing her usual nighttime outfit. The two of them stared at each other in silence for several moments. Eventually, Rudy was able to find his voice.

 

“Mom...? I..wasn’t expecting to see you up.” Rudy admitted.

 

“Well your father kinda kicked me in his sleep.” His mom said. Rudy stared at her in shock. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. But I wanted to come down here for a glass of orange juice before I head back to bed.” Suddenly she frowned and folded her arms against her chest. “I thought you were feeling sick.”

 

“I-I was... I feel better now.” Rudy said quickly. He offered the best smile that he could come up with. “I guess all I needed was a little rest.”

 

But his mother didn’t seem to buy it. She narrowed her eyes further. “Rudy...”

 

Rudy let out as oft sight. “Oh all right... I admit it. I lied.”

 

“There, now was that so hard?” His mother asked. She softened up her expression. “Actually, I knew you were lying.”

 

Rudy spluttered at this. “You did?” He stared at her in shock. How did she know?

 

“Yes. A mother can always tell when her child is sick.” His mother gave him a soft smile. “I just let you go because I figured you just needed a little time to yourself.” She paused for a moment. “Now exactly why did you lie and hide in your room for hours? I didn’t expect you to be gone that long.”

 

Rudy wasn’t sure how to answer. He looked left and right, clenching his teeth a bit. How was he going to explain this to his mom? How could he even begin to tell her what he was feeling lately?

 

“It’s about Penny, isn’t it?”

 

Rudy felt his body jolt at this. How did his mom figure this out? How did she knew that it was related to Penny? Was she psychic? Was there something he did earlier that gave this away? He tried to speak, but at the moment, he had lost his voice.

 

His mother continued to smile at him. “It’s all right, Rudy. I know that it is her. You were fine for the few moments that Mrs. Sanchez was here, but as soon as you learned Penny had come over as well, that’s when you left. I saw the way you looked at her as you fled. I know it was her that gave you reason to run away.”

 

Rudy let out a sigh. He should have known that he couldn’t hide anything from his mother. She could read him very easily, and she often guesses right about a lot of things. She was certainly correct about Penny. He was lucky that he was able to pull off convincing lies when it came to ChalkZone. The very idea of letting another human into that world made him shudder. It got even worse ever since he had that dream about letting in some dragon creator in there...

 

He shook off the memory and focused on his mom. She was staring at him expectantly, waiting for him to speak. He wasn’t sure how he should start. What could he tell his mom? How could he explain the situation to her? Would she be able to help him? Could she help him? And what of his dad? Would he have a better time as his mom, or would he fail as wel?

 

“Penny didn’t...hurt you, did she?”

 

Rudy snapped to attention at this. He rapidly shook his head. “No...”

 

“Ah.. Are you just shy then?” His mom asked.

 

Rudy lowered his head and nodded. “I’m..I’m afraid she might...”

 

“Oh Rudy... You shouldn’t think like that. I know your past attempts to make friends ended in failure.” His mother started to say.

 

“That’s an understatement. Do you remember Toroh?” Rudy felt his body give a cold shudder at the mere mention of that name. Of all the names he had learned over the years, that one was so etched into his mind that, even if he never spoke it on a regular basis, he’d never forget it.

 

Immediately his mother’s eyes flashed in horror. It was brief, but he could still see it. Then she shook her head once and smiled gently at Rudy. “That’s all in the past now, Rudy. Don’t worry. Toroh is still apprehended and he can’t get you anymore.”

 

Rudy nodded his head. He understood that. He knew that he had nothing more to fear from that guy. Locked away, he can’t do anything to hurt him again. He pushed back the horrific memories as best as he could. He didn’t want to remember their so-called ‘friendship’. He didn’t want to think of just how badly Toroh had turned on him, how he had played in for a fool the whole time.

 

“I don’t think Penny will be like that.” His mother’s voice cut him out of his thoughts. “I know Mrs. Sanchez. She would never raise her daughter to be a....what’s the word you use? Creepazoid?” Rudy nodded his head once. “Yeah, I don’t think she’ll be that. She would ahve bene raised right.”

 

“I know...” Rudy gave a sigh. “Still...I can’t help but think that she might... After what all the others did... I....”

 

His mother looked at him sympathetically. “Oh, I know dear. It’s hard to cling to hope after so many failures. But I feel you should give Penny a chance. Try to talk to her and get to know her. You never know. She just might surprise you.”

 

Rudy said, “I want to get to know her, I really do. But I keep having these doubts.. I can’t even bring myself to say one word to her. I’ve tried...Oh how I’ve tried...” He gripped the sides of his head. “I don’t know what to do...”

 

His mother tapped her chin thoughtfully. She gave a thoughtful sigh, one that he had grown familiar with over the years of his life. He waited silently for her, wondering what she was going to suggest. His mom was usually good at coming up with solutions. Maybe she might be able to help. He hoped so. He had so few Real World people to confide in. If his parents couldn’t help him then..who would?

 

**No one, because you’re a loser.**

 

_Get out of my head!_

 

Rudy shut his eyes and shook his head violently to one side. When will these horrible thoughts stop?

 

“Well, her mother did say that Penny did like art.”

 

Rudy felt a warm feeling in his chest at that statement. He looked over at his mother, staring at her. He licked his lips slowly, nervously, as he comprehended what she said. “She does?”

 

His mom nodded her head. Her eyes twinkled. “Hey, why don’t you show her that comic you were working so hard on?”

 

“What? My one about that imaginary world, ChalkZone?” Rudy asked.

 

“Sure.” His mom held up her hand in gesture. “Why not?”

 

Rudy flinched, looking left and right nervously. “I don’t know... A lot of people tease me for that comic....” He rubbed his arm nervously. “What if she hates it...?”

 

“Well, you never know unless you try.” His mom said. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Go for it. Who knows? Maybe she’ll love it.”

 

“Do you...really think so?” Rudy was hesitant about the idea. His comic was one of the reasons he was made fun of so much. How would he know that Penny wouldn’t react the same as the others? How could he believe she would take interest in his artwork?

 

His mother smiled reassuringly at him. She moved a little closer to him. “Well you never know unless you try. I know you had rough spots with other people. But you shouldn’t let them get to you. Don’t give up on showing your comic. I’m sure if you tried hard enough, you’d find a lot more fans than haters.”

 

Rudy lowered his gaze. “Sure doesn’t seem that way.” Rudy couldn’t think of one time when he met someone who actually liked his comic. He did not want to get his hopes up.

 

“Please don’t despair Rudy. I still think you should try the comic again. Penny likes art, so I still think she may enjoy your comic.” His mom said. She gently squeezed his shoulder. “Give it a shot. What do you have to lose?”

 

Rudy narrowed his eyes softly at her. He understood that she was trying to be helpful. She was doing what she could to be supportive. But despite her words, he couldn’t take full comfort in them. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to try. He did. Oh how he did... He wanted to talk to Penny. He wanted to show her his work. He really wanted to. But the painful memories reminded him of how that had ended up in the past. Emotion got the better of him, winning over his mind over his more rational thoughts.

 

His mother noticed his mental plight. Her expression grew more concern. She reached down and caressed his cheek gently. Rudy looked up, feeling his mother’s fingers move along his skin.

 

“I know it’s scary, Rudy. But you’ve got to try. What’s the worse that could happen?”

 

Rudy’s eyes bulged at this.

 

**Awww looks like dear mommy has a bit of amnesia. Did she already forget about Toroh?**

 

_It was just a memory relapse. It’s fine!_

 

**Or maybe she is plotting your downfall. Maybbe she doesn’t care as much about you as she says. Why else would she be forcing you to meet this Penny girl?**

 

_She just wants me to make friends. That’s all!_

 

**Or maybe she relishes in your pain. Maybe she wants to keep hurting you so that you’d keep running back to her crying. She might be one of those mothers who hurts her own child just so that she can...**

 

_Shut up! She isn’t like that!_

 

**Keep telling yourself that, kid. Just keep telling yourself.**

 

Rudy did his best to keep himself from frowning. He didn’t want his mother to have any indication that he was struggling with his own internal thoughts. He didn’t want her having any clue that a part of him was having doubts about her and everything else. He didn’t want her to know that side of him.

 

Thankfully, it didn’t seem as though she noticed. Or if she did, she decided not to say anything. She had released her grip on him and she moved a little further away from him. She positioned herself in front of Rudy, staring at him intently. A sympathetic expression was plastered over her face. The sight of it made Rudy feel guilty. He didn’t want to make her worry about him so much. He wanted to be brave. He had to try, for her.

 

His mother flashed a look of regret in her eyes. “Oh..I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that I...forgot...” His mother bit her lip, looking left and right.

 

“Oh it’s all right.” Rudy said as he pushed aside his initial fear. “I know you meant well.”

 

Clearly wanting to change the topic, his mother said, “Well isn’t tomorrow Show And Tell?”

 

Rudy shook his head. “Well sort of. Mr. Wilter wants us to write a report on what we did over our summer break.”

 

“Why don’t you bring the comic?” His mother asked. Upon seeing her son’s confused expression, she continued, “Well thats what you were working on in the summer time right? Just bring the comic over and read it to the class. That way, Penny can see it and you won’t necessarily have to go up to her to talk to her about it.”

 

Rudy thought about this for a moment. His mother’s idea just might work. Rudy was still scared of the idea of confronting Penny directly. Yet the idea of showing her his comic, despite his fears, it still had some element of appeal. If he showed it in front of the classroom, then at least Penny could see it, and if she liked it, she could come up and tell him.

 

Yeah.. He liked this idea. He was going to go for it. He smiled at his mother gratefully. He went up to her and pressed himself against her in a hug. He felt his mother’s arms around him, her warmth spreading through him as she hugged him.

 

The voice tried to taunt him again, but this time, Rudy managed to push them away. He was not going to allow that voice to get him this time. He was not going to let that voice slow him down any longer.

 

“Thanks, mom.” Rudy whispered softly. “I’ll try that idea. I’ll try.”

 

His mother smiled. “I’m glad. Let me know how it turns out.” She planted a quick kiss on his forehead. “Okay?”

 

Rudy smiled. “Yeah. I will.”

 

But despite his newfound confidence, that didn’t stop the voice from having one last say before it finally left him alone.

 

**Remember what happened with Toroh, kid. That’s all I’m saying.**

 

sss

 

The day had come. It wasn’t easy getting to sleep, but his mother helped him out. Now Rudy was sitting in the chair in class, waiting for the reports to begin. Mr. Wilter was positioned in front of the class room, his arms folded behind his backs, giving a quick speech about the reports.

 

He didn’t pay much attention to that. He was looking over in Penny’s direction. She was sitting on the other side of Reggie. He norally didn’t look over this way, but today, Reggie didn’t seem to be paying him any mind. The bully didn’t say anything as Rudy stared over him to look at Penny. He felt a little bad doing this. Looking like a creeper was the last thing he wanted.

 

It was just that... He really wanted to talk to Penny. He wanted to over there right now and talk to her. But he held himself back, partially out of fear of rejection, and fear of being used. Yet despite all the failures, he didn’t want to give up on Penny.

 

**Because you’re a loser who doesn’t want to admit defeat.**

 

_Oh why don’t you be quiet already?_

 

**What? Is it wrong for me to point out the obvious? You and I both know that she would never be interested in being friends with you. You should give up while you’re ahead.**

 

_No way. I came this far. I will not give up._

 

**You’re one pathetic kid, you know that?**

 

_Not as pathetic as someone who just gives up all the time._

 

Rudy refused to let his low self-esteem win. He would not let himself be brought down like that. He glanced down at the comic that his mom suggested he bring. He narrowed his eyes in determination. Today would be the day. He was sure of it.

 

“Now let’s begin our reports.” Mr. Wilter’s voice cut through the air, drawing Rudy’s attention away from his thoughts. He looked over at where his teacher stood. “Penny Sanchez, you’re first.”

 

“Okay, Mr. Wilter.” Penny said. She got up from her seat, holding a couple of papers in her hand. She positioned herself in front of the classroom and began her report. “Over my summer vacation, I...”

 

Rudy stared at Penny as she spoke. Oh gosh, she was so pretty and the way she spoke, she definitely sounded like a nice person. Even though he didn’t fully understand what she was saying, and though spiders weren’t exactly high on his list of things he was interested in, he found himself leaning forward, his smile growing a little broader than he thought it would.

 

He knew he probably looked a little silly and obvious, but right now, he didn’t care. The only thing he was aware of was Penny and her speech in front of the class. Her report was pretty long and detailed, more so than anyone else in his class. Definitely better than anything Reggie could come up with.

 

Normally, this kind of report might have bored him a little, but for some reason, coming from Penny, it was a masterpiece. Maybe it was the way she spoke, the way it was structured, or the words she had chosen. He wasn’t sure. All that he was aware of was the fact that he liked it.

 

He thought he heard something hit his head. He didn’t bother turning over and looking at it. All he could do was smile almost stupidly as he stared at Penny while she spoke, his head nodding a few times for some reason. Then, moments later, to his disappointment, the report reading was finished and Penny lowered her papers.

 

“A well done report by our new student, Penny Sanchez.” Mr. Wilter gave a small smile of approvement down at Penny as he gave her a couple of pats on the head.

 

Penny smiled in pride at this, and Rudy couldn’t help but stretch his smile further. This was short-lived when he looked over and his eyes widened in horror. Reggie had taken out a straw and put in a spit wad in it. Before Rudy could say something to stop him, Reggie had already fired it.

 

“Ow!” Penny cried as the spit wad hit her in her left eye. She frowned over in Reggie’s direction as she used a finger to wipe away the spit wad in disgust.

 

Reggie leaned back in his chair and turned his head to the side. In a dismissive tone, he said, “Boring!”

 

Rudy glared at Reggie. He and the larger boy never got along very well. Reggie loved to pick on anyone who was weaker than him, including Rudy himself. Time and again, Rudy would see this stupid bully go around, bullying people into doing what he wanted. About the only consolence in the whole thing is that Reggie often got detention. It didn’t do much to improve the boy’s behavior, but at least it was something.

 

Rudy normally would just try to let it go. Confronting Reggie was not a good idea and it was something he did his best to avoid. He knew how Reggie can be, and Rudy did not have the muscle to try to back up anything that he said.

 

But today, he just couldn’t let it slide. He didn’t like Reggie picking on him, but what he hated more was when he picked on other people, especially a new student. Penny hadn’t done anything to provoke the boy and yet he still took action against her. Now, in a rare moment, Rudy did something that he almost never did.

 

He talked back to Reggie.

 

“Oh yeah, Reggie?” Rudy hissed at the larger boy, his eyes narrowed. He did not relent as Reggie turned to glare in his direction. “Like you’ve got something better...”

 

Rudy’s eyes widened when Reggie suddenly reached out towards him. The bully grabbed him by his shirt, causing Rudy to stare at him in shock. The bully then yanked him forward as hard as he could, nearly causing Rudy to fall over. Soon the bully’s face was put so close to his, he could feel his breath. Rudy glared at him defiantly, making no attempt to apologize to Reggie.

 

“You say something, Tabootie?!” Reggie snapped at him, looking ready to beat him up on the spot.

 

Rudy simply glared back. He didn’t say anything in response to Reggie’s threat. His glare was answer enough for that bully. He would normally be worried about the possibility of a physical fight, but in his anger, he wasn’t even thinking about that.

 

Thankfully, Mr. Wilter did all the thinking for him. The man had walked up to the two boys and drove a wedge between them. His large hands grabbed their faces and he pushed them back with ease. Rudy winced as he felt the pressure against his face. He leaned back into his chair and removed his face from Mr. Wilter’s hands.

 

Mr. Wilter glared down at Reggie. “Reggie!” He leaned down towards Reggie, causing the boy to cringe back from the teacher. Despite being a bully, even he knew not to mess with Mr. Wilter. “If you’re so sure of yourself, why don’t you go next?”

 

Reggie stared at the man for a few seconds, the same surprised expression on his face. At first, it looked as though he had not done the report, which would be so like Reggie. But almost to Rudy’s surprise, Reggie did get up out of his seat, holding an old, ripped piece of paper in his hands. The boy walked towards the front of the class room and began to speak.

 

Rudy didn’t say anything out loud, but this has got to be one of the worst reports he had ever heard. Nothing about it was anything he didn’t expect from Reggie. Just the usual ‘I beat this person up for lunch money’ type things. Nothing new from Reggie. It was exactly how he would expect him to behave.

 

Rudy found himself shaking his head from side to side. Typical Reggie. He mocked someone who had actually done the research and hard work, and yet he puts together a sloppy report that only consists of him making other students do what he wanted. It was like listening to the blackboard being scraped. It took all of Rudy’s will to prevent himself from plugging his ears. Just how long was this report anyway? And when would it stop?

 

“Okay! Okay!” Mr. Wilter, clearly disgusted by Reggie’s report, began to push him away, stopping Reggie from finishing his report. “That’s enough, Mr. Bullnerd!”

 

Rudy couldn’t help but put his hand to his mouth in an amused smile. If it weren’t for Mr. Wilter, he’d probably be chuckling right about now. Reggie shot him a furious look, but Rudy did not let up on the grin. It wasn’t like Reggie could do anything to him in class.

 

“Who’s next? Rudy Tabootie!” Mr. Wilter pointed down at the ten year old boy.

 

Rudy lifted up his head in surprise, turning over to look at the teacher. He hadn’t expected to go up so soon. He froze for a moment, glancing down at the comic book. He oculd feel his heart beginning to beat faster, and he started to wonder if this was such a good idea after all. What if something happened? What if Penny ended up hating it? What if...

 

He shook his head. No, he couldn’t think like that. Everything would be fine. He would see to that. Right now, he was holding everyone else up. The sooner all the reports were done, the sooner they could all move onto other topics.

 

He grabbed onto his comic and held it behind his back and, smiling the best he could to hide his nervousness, he walked towards the front of the classroom. This was it. The moment had finally come. He took a quick glance over at Penny, and then he whipped out the comic, holding it out in front of him to display it to everyone.

 

“This is what I did over my summer vacation!” Rudy began to say as he began to explain the comic to the class.

 

Rudy proceeded to talk about his comic in front of the class. He did his best not to stare at Penny while he did so, not wanting her to feel freaked out. As he spoke, he made sure to hold up the comic open for everyone to see, including Penny. He thought he noticed her looking out of the corner of his eye, but, nervous about looking directly at her, he couldn’t fully confirm it.

 

Rudy felt a sense of pride as he spoke about his comic. He had worked really hard on it. It wasn’t easy creating all of the pages, and some of them, he had draw and redraw many times before he got it right. And that wasn’t even getting into the coloring and the shading. It wasn’t exactly a masterpiece or anything, but it was still something he felt proud of.

 

He hoped Penny was liking what she was hearing. He wasn’t sure just what she was into, but at the very least, he hoped he sparked some interest in his work. Even if she didn’t speak to him today, this was at least a good start. He wasn’t expecting things to take off too fast.

 

Before he could finish his report, however, he felt this comic suddenly yanked from him. He looked up in shock as Mr. Wilter held the comic above him, shaking it like it was some useless piece of trash.

 

“This...this... comic book makes a mockery of the assignment!” Mr. Wilter yelled. He grabbed the book at both ends with his large hands. Rudy felt his heart skip a beat. Was the man going to rip the comic apart? He turned around, not willing to watch his work be destroyed. “This was intended to be a writing assignment!”

 

Rudy kept his back turned to Mr. Wilter. He lowered his head in shame. He couldn’t believe that he had forgotten about that. Of course Mr. Wilter would want it in writing. He hated cartoons. Why did he ever think it was a good idea to bring in his comic?

 

He could feel his spirit crushed as Mr. Wilter continued to rant about his choice for the assignment. He walked slowly towards his desk, keeping his head low and his eyes averted. He only looked up when he saw Mr. Wilter towering over him, clutching his comic tightly in his hands.

 

“...not some fictional cartoon!”

 

After that yell, the man slammed his comic onto his desk. Rudy cringed at this. He had never seen Mr. Wilter this angry before, and it terrified him. He cringed back even further as he listened to Reggie laugh at his expense. He merely closed his eyes and waited for Mr. Wilter to tear his comic further apart.

 

He caught a lucky break. The bell just rang, signaling the end of this portion of the class. The beginning of recess. He let out a sigh of relief, grateful that he wouldn’t have to listen to Mr. Wilter again for at least ten minutes or more.

 

As the children began to flee the room, Mr. Wilter, who had taken position in front of his desk, hunched over, gave him a backwards glance and started to speak again. Compared to his earlier reaction, this was a little less aggressive, but Rudy could still sense the anger in the man’s voice.

 

“Rudy, I expect more out of you.” Mr. Wilter said. The man turned and started to walk towards his desk, a pile of papers clutched in his hands. “I want you to stay in during recess and use words...” He pointed his finger against the comic in disgust, his glare practically staring through his soul. “..to write a report about what you actually did over your vacation!”

 

With that, the man left the room, shutting the door behind him.

 

Rudy slumped in his chair. He lowered his head, feeling absolutely crushed. He had really blown it this time. He had messed up the assignment and got on Mr. Wilter’s bad side. He had his comic pretty much ripped up, hurting his pride and making him feel ashamed. And he had no doubt that most of the students in his class, if not all of them, would have worse things to say.

 

And all this happened in front of Penny... Oh what a way to introduce his work to her. He had really screwed it up. After Mr. Wilter’s display, she probably wouldn’t want to be anywhere near his comic. She probably thought it was stupid anyway. Most people did. Sometimes he wondered why he bothered to even try. Except for his parents, no one seemed all that interested.

 

Especially not Penny. She would have already gone outside by now with the other children. He was all alone here in the classroom. Just him and his echoing thoughts.

 

**See? What did I tell you? Complete failure.**

 

_I..I just wanted to..._

 

**You should have listened to me, kid. None of this would have happened if you had just stopped herself before it was too late. Now look at you.**

 

_J-Just shut up!_

 

**Getting all defensive again. How pathetic. You’re such a loser, Rudy. And you always will be.**

 

_No..._

 

**Stop lying to yourself. Take this lesson to heart, Rudy. Nobody likes you and nobody ever will. Get used to be alone, kid. Your loneliness and your thoughts are all that will accompany you. Oh and I suppose your parents count, but they are your mother and father. They kind of have to put up with you anyway.**

 

Rudy flinched at the harsh words his self-esteem gave him. He would have tried to fight back, but he was too crushed to do much of anything. Besides...the voice was right. He was a loser and there was no way he would ever be able to make any real friends. He was just a chew toy, a cosmic plaything, and nothing more. Why did he ever think that this was going to work?

 

Well, he might as well get started on the report. He felt a pang in his stomach as he stared at his comic. Perhaps he should throw this away in the trash. Not like it was going to do him much good.

 

“I thought it was a very interesting story, Rudy.”

 

Rudy’s eyes widened at this. He shot his head up and looked over at the source of that voice. He wanted to pinch himself because he wasn’t sure what he was seeing was reality.

 

Standing right there was Penny.

 

When did she get over here? How long had she been standing there? How did he not notice her earlier? He wanted to say something, but all he could do was stare at her in shock. He had not expected her to just walk over towards him like that. He thought that she would have had better things to do and just go out to recess.

 

Yet here she was, standing right before him. She was smiling warmly at him, showing no signs of being condenscending or malicious. Just friendliness. It was such a strange and foreign thing to him that he found himself still speechless.

 

“May I see your comic?” Penny asked, still sounding as friendly as ever.

 

Rudy’s mind reeled at that. She...she was interested in his comic? He felt his chest fill with a warm emotion. Yet he still remained cautious. He didn’t want to get his hopes up. A part of him wanted to say no so that he didn’t have to worry about being made fun of. Maybe Penny was faking it and...

 

No, he had to at least take the chance. Penny might be different. He had gotten this far... He just had to keep going.

 

“Yeah...” Rudy looked down towards the comic. “Sure...” Immediately, Penny turned around and walked towards Mr. Wilter’s desk to grab his chair. As she started to walk back, he leaned forward on his desk and asked with a smile, “You really liked it?”

 

“Yeah!” Exclaimed Penny as she positioned the chair next to Rudy’s desk.

 

Rudy could feel elation rise up on inside of him. There was so much enthusiasm in her voice. There...there was no way she could be faking it. It was still so hard for him to take it all in. Someone...actually liked his comic book.

 

Feeling as though he should return the favor he said, “You know, your spider report was pretty awesome.” Oh that sounded so stupid. He could have come up with a better compliment than that.

 

But Penny seemed to like it just fine. “Oh thanks!”

 

Rudy’s smile broadened at this. He leaned a little away to give Penny some room. She picked up his comic and opened it up. He watched as the girl began to flip through the pages. He remained quiet, waiting for her to speak up again.

 

A part of him expected her to say something nasty to him. He thought that after a short time, she would find something she thought was weird and make a harsh commentary on it. He braced himself for such insults. He had gotten used to them. But no..that never happened. As Penny flipped through, she remained amiable, and never once said or did anything to put him down.

 

“Fascinating!” Penny exclaimed as she flipped through a few more of his comic’s pages. Rudy sucked in a deep breath, feeling some of his pride returning. The girl turned her head towards him. “Now..how do you think of this stuff?”

 

No one had ever asked him that before. Rudy wasn’t sure how to respond at first. But he didn’t want to keep her waiting. He said the first thing that came to his mind.

 

Leaning back, resting his head on his hand, he said, “Oh, you know...I have my ways...” Oh that sounded so stupid. Why did he say something like that?

 

Penny didn’t seem to mind it and she continued to flip through his book. Suddenly she closed it and clutched it to herself. She turned and looked at him with an expression he never saw before. It was eagerness. “Can we read it now?” Her voice was tinged with excitement.

 

Rudy was not used to someone actually being excited and happy over his work, save for his parents. He could feel his body quaking on the inside. Excitement filled his heart, and the pride that Mr. Wilter damaged was fully repaired. The man’s harsh words exited his mind as Penny’s much kinder, more enthusiastic statements took over.

 

It was true what they say. Sometimes a few kind words are enough to build someone up.

 

And as he stared at her, his smile never leaving, he never once noticed anything wrong with Penny. He couldn’t see any hidden motive with her. He didn’t detect anything off about her. This behavior was clearly genuine.

 

Then again... Toroh’s behavior seemed genuine as well, and that ended in utter failure...

 

He pushed that wretched thought out of his mind. He reminded himself that Penny was not Toroh. She was her own person. He could not compare her to him. It wouldn’t be right of he pushed such expectations on her when she had hardly done anything to deserve it.

 

“Okay...” Rudy said as he looked over at Penny. “But I gotta warn you... It gets pretty gross.” Penny’s smile faded. Rudy felt a sting in his heart and his smile weakened. “You might not be able to take it.”

 

Penny just stared at him for a few seconds. Then a second later, Penny’s smile came back, not at all put off by what Rudy had said. This made his own smile return as Penny opened up the comic book. “We’ll see about that.” Suddenly she stopped and stared down at one of the panels. “Oh! What’s going on in this picture?”

 

Rudy’s grin broadened. “Well...”

 

Rudy began to tell Penny all about his comic. He made sure not to leave out any details, not wanting Penny to be confused about anything. But if she was confused, he’d be glad to answer for her.

 

As he read the comic to her, he couldn’t help but feel incredibly happy. His body swelled with positive emotion, and he felt so...warm. Accepted. He had come in only expecting at least a compliment or two from Penny, but now here he was, actually bonding with her as he read to her his comic. This was only the beginning as he knew these things take time. But he was off to a wonderful start. It almost felt like a fantasy, but sometimes reality can be much more satisfying.

 

His mother was right to have him bring the comic over today. Despite the set back with Mr. Wilter, it really did work. He couldn’t wait to tell her about how it had gone. Maybe tomorrow, he’ll bring another comic in to read with her.

 

Time became a blur as he concentrated on reading the comic to Penny.

 

sss

 

“That’s wonderful, honey! I’m glad everything worked out.” Rudy heard his mom say.

 

His dad agreed. “I’m sure it’ll do you some good to be able to hang out with someone your own age.”

 

Rudy didn’t reply to his parents. He merely nodded his head once, remaining quiet. He was staring down at his plate of food, eating very slowly. Strong emotion was preventing him from eating properly, but it wasn’t fear or dread or anything. Instead, it was happiness, more than he ever thought he’d feel.

 

Today had gone quite well. Better than he would have ever thought possible. He had expected so much to go wrong, but instead, things just went smooth sailing. He could feel his confidence swelling up inside of him. He felt as though he could do this again tomorrow, this time with him making the move instead of Penny.

 

Today, he had actually spoken to Penny. He had taken the risk and showed the comic to the class, and that had prompted Penny to come over, just like how his mom predicted. Though he did get in trouble with the teacher for such a thing, it was still worth it in the end.

 

Penny came over and asked to see his comic. There had been genuine interest in her voice and eyes, and she acted like none of the people in the past, who pretended to like it, only to mock it later. She didn’t try to bash his work or bring him down, and even when he felt as though he was getting a little cocky, she took it all in stride and just kept talking with him, as if she found nothing wrong with his behavior.

 

There were a few times when Penny brought up something in the story that she felt could be changed, and Rudy was ashamed to admit, he got a little defensive. He wanted the comic to stay true to what actually happened. But then he realized that Penny didn’t realize that ChalkZone was real. He couldn’t really fault her for trying to alter the comic in that case. And he admitted, some of her ideas did sound better than what actually happened.

 

Mr. Wilter had come back, and Penny worriedly told him how he hadn’t done anything for his report. Rudy had quickly thought of something. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t think of it before. He wrote a quick note on paper and told the class that he spent his vacation creating the comic book. Mr. Wilter’s reaction was much more accepting, but he reminded him not to draw more cartoons. Then he fell on the ground due to the missing chair and he laughed with Penny at Mr. Wilter’s expense.

 

It felt good. Laughing with someone else, that is. A Real World person that is, not a zoner. He laughed plenty with Snap, but for some reason, it felt...different when he laughed with Penny. As if he was finally being accepcted by someone, rather than mocked.

 

Rudy looked forward to the next day. He wanted to see Penny again. He wanted to try talking with her and hang out with her during recess. He wanted to get to know her more.

 

Now that they had spoken with each other today, he felt much more confident about going over to her and talking to her on his own. He didn’t feel as terrified of doing this, and the thought no longer filled him with dread. It felt good to able to approach another student in his class and not worry about being rejected or pushed away or bullied like he had been so much in the past.

 

“You should bring her over some time.” His dad suggested.

 

Rudy spluttered at this. He stared at his dad in shock. “What...?” He wasn’t suggesting that... They were too young. Why would his dad think that she was going to become his girlfriend?

 

His dad stared at him in confusion. Then he appeared to realize what he was so confused about. He gave a quick chuckle and said, “Oh don’t worry. I don’t expect you two to be a thing...at least not until you’re in high school.” He took a bite of his food and swallowed. “I just mean that maybe you bring her over as a friend. Hang out here.”

 

  
“Or maybe you could visit her. I don’t see her mom having any objections to that.” Said his mom.

 

“Those are...interesting ideas.” Rudy did his best not to flinch. “But that’s moving a little too fast, don’t you think?” He held his hands up, moving them up and down slowly. “Maybe I should take it a little slower than that. I don’t want to mess this up.”

 

“That’s understandable. We know you’ve had...problems in the past.” Rudy flinched at that. He was glad that his dad did not dwell on the topic for long. “But I think that this one will turn out different.” He resumed eating.

 

Rudy felt a quick twist in his chest at that. His dad only ‘thought’ that it would turn out better? Whatever happened to earlier, when he was just as sure as his wife that Penny would be different? Wasn’t Mrs. Sanchez their friend? Shouldn’t he know this? For a brief moment, he felt some of his confidence weaken.

 

His mom came over and picked up the plate that Rudy had just finished. She stared down at him with a sympathetic smile. “It will be okay. Just keep it up, and I’m sure that Penny will open the arms of friendship for you.”

 

“I hope so. I mean...we still aren’t exactly friends, but she was so nice to me and we seem to really hit it off.” Rudy said. “I just..don’t want to botch this up.”

 

His mother’s smile broadened. “Don’t worry. You won’t. I’m sure of it.” She straightened herself up. She turned around and began to head towards the sink. When she reached it and set the dishes in, she turned and looked over at Rudy. “Why don’t you bring more of your comics over? It sounded like she really enjoyed the one you brought in today.”

 

“Yeah. You have several comics laying around, don’t you?” His dad said. “Why don’t you bring a couple more tomorrow? I’m sure Penny will really enjoy them.”

 

“Yeah...I’m sure she will, too...” Rudy said with a smile.

 

He still had a cautious side of him and he wanted to go in this a little slowly just in case. But for the most part, he was excited. He might be finally getting a true Real World friend. Things were shaping up rather well. If he remained careful with his next moves, and moved forward at a steady pace, he may succeed in gaining Penny’s friendship. But the only one that could tell him if he’d succeed for certain was time.

 

But for now, it was time to get some sleep. He felt unusually tired right now, and they did have dinner a little later than usual today. Around 8:30. He opened up his mouth and yawned. Yeah, some sleep will do him some good.

 

Bidding his parents goodnight, Rudy headed towards the stairs. He ascended them quickly. He gave out another yawn, his eyes closing lightly as he moved towards where his door would be. He almost hit against the door itself. He took a few steps back, shaking his head to try to get himself to be at least a little aware of his surroundings.

 

He soon entered his room. He climbed into his bunkbed. He pulled the covers over his body and curled up. He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, and sighed. He soon fell asleep, and his snores filled the room.

 

sss

 

Rudy stood on the black top, staring towards Penny. It was recess, and the bell had run about five minutes ago. He had wanted to go up to her right away and talk to her, but he found himself hesitating again. He wasn’t sure why. He had spoken to her just fine the other day. Why wasn’t he able to talk to her today?

 

Recess would be over quicker than he thought. Time was flying by fast. If he didn’t speak to her now, then he would have to wait until tomorrow. He had to do this. He had to go up and talk to her. He could do it. He had to believe that he could. He just needed to pick up his legs and walk over there and say hello. How hard could it be?

 

Apparently very hard. He couldn’t get his legs to budge at all. It was as though they were glued to the ground. He tried to lift them, but he nearly pulled a muscle even attempting. So all he could do was stare at her, feeling horribly guilty while doign so.

 

Oh why couldn’t he do this? He had spoken to Penny yesterday during the reports. She had liked his comics and she had complimented on them and they had a nice, albeit short, chat. She had been really nice to him, far nicer than any of the other students. And yet here he was, chickening out, staying put and not trying to make a move of his own. Penny made the first move the other day. So why can’t he do the same thing?

 

He brought over the comics that his mother suggested he should bring. He brought along three of them. They were folded in his hands right now. They weren’t very large comics, all of them being shorter than the one he brought to the class yesterday. They could be easily read to her before the bell ran at the end of the recess.

 

..if he could just get on over there...

 

Before he could do anything. Penny looked over in his direction. He watched as a smile spread across her face. She reaced her hand up and waved at him. He hesitated, but he soon managed to race his hand up and he waved back at her. Then she approached him.

 

“Hello, Rudy! How are you?” She asked.

 

“I’m fine...” Rudy said somewhat slowly, doing his best to smile at her. He felt a pang of guilt that Penny was the one who had to make the first move. Oh why was he such a coward? “N-Nice day..isn’t it...?”

 

Penny took notice of his nervous stuttering. Her smile vanished, replaced with a look of concern. “Is something wrong, Rudy?” She tilted her head to one side. “You seem...uncomfortable around me. Should I...?”

 

“No!” Rudy waved his hand out in front of him. He realized he was too loud and he gave a quick chuckle. He cleared his throat and said, “No..please stay. I’m f-fine..really.”

 

Penny raised an eyebrow in concern. “Are you sure?”

 

Rudy nodded his head. He lifted up his other hand, holding out the rolled up comics in his hands. “I wanted to show you more of my comics!” He said with quite a bit of enthusiasm. He felt his heart sting when Penny looked at him in confusion, pulling her head back. “That is...” He said in a softer voice. “...if you want to...”

 

“I’d love to. But...why did you wait so long to ask me?” Penny held her hands up in confusion. “Why were you just staring at me for five minutes?”

 

Rudy gasped at this. She had noticed him watching her? How long had she known? Why didn’t she say anything? A wave of guilt washed over him, making him want to lower his head in shame.

 

Penny continued, “Is there....something you’re not telling me, Rudy?”

 

“No! No..I’m fine. Really, I am. I’m just tired, that’s all. Yeah..tired.” Rudy hoped that would be enough for Penny. He didn’t really want to delve into anything that deeply personal yet. He just...didn’t know Penny well enough to do something like that. He could tell his folks and Snap, but not Penny. Not yet. He hoped that she would understand.

 

Penny stared at him for a few seconds. Her eyes were narrowed slightly in confusion. Her expression was enough for him to know that she did not really believe him. She looked ready to ask him more questions, and he braced himself for them.

 

To his surprise, however, she did something else entirel. She heeded him, and she backed down.

 

“All right then. I suppose it’s not really my business.” Penny said. She sounded a little disappointed, but the reassuring smile she gave him told Rudy that she did at least understand why he might not want to speak to her on more personal matters. She turned her head towards his wad of comic books. “So what did you bring?”

 

Rudy looked down at the three small comics he brought. He lifted them up, spreading them out for her to see. “Just some of my older works. Before the ChalkZone story. That one is pretty new.” He glanced down at the three comics for a second before looking back at Penny. “These aren’t anything that spectacular, but my mom thought that you might enjoy them and...”

 

Penny immediately seized the top comic. She held it up in her hands. She stared at the cover. “Zombie Bites?” She said. She gave a quick chuckle, putting her hand to her mouth. “Interesting title, Rudy.”

 

“Oh...” Rudy lowered his head and hunched her shoulders. “Thanks...”

 

Great, he had botched up his chance with her by bringing some old comics over. He should have known that she might have reacted like this to his earlier work. Zombie Bites was one of his first real attempts and it was just..so bad.

 

At least Penny didn’t continue to mock it. She had fallen silent as she flipped through the pages. She hadn’t looked over at him again yet. She focused her attention on flipping through the pages, skimming his art and taking it all in. The amused smile never left her face, and once in a while, she did chuckle. Each time she did, Rudy felt lower and lower, continuing to expect her to say something mocking about the comic. She never did, but he kept expecting it.

 

Penny giggled as she reached the final page. She then shut it. “Well, Rudy, that was...” Upon seeing the look on Rudy’s face, Penny appeared to back pedal. “Rudy? What’s wrong?”

 

Rudy shook his head. “Oh it’s nothing.” He turned his head away. “Don’t mind me.”

 

Penny moved closer to him. He could hear her footsteps. His instincts were telling him to run. But he chose to remain his ground, his head still turned from her. Even when Penny stood only a foot away from him, though he could feel her breath hit him slightly as she stood there, he still did not budge.

 

“Rudy...?”

 

The boy turned his head slowly. He stared at Penny with one eye, filled with caution and shame and guilt. He noticed Penny wince when she saw him like that, and her teeth were clenched nervously. Rudy felt a pang in his stomach, but he remained silent.

 

“Rudy, did...did I upset you...?” Penny whispered softly. She stared at Rudy intently, looking at him up and down. “Did something I say bother you?”

 

“I...well...”

 

“Did I hurt your feelings?” Penny asked after a bit of silence. Rudy just stared at her, his expression never changing. He then pursed his lips slightly and nodded his head slowly. Penny’s eyes widened at this. “How? What did I do?”

 

Rudy lowered his head and closed his eyes. “I..I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just say not everything is so...peachy for me here.”

 

“Well, school isn’t really great for everyone.” Penny put a hand on his shoulder, gently squeezing it. “There are many other people in the world who get it far worse in school than you do.”

 

Rudy glared at her softly. “Is that supposed to help me feel better?”

 

Penny shook her head. “I just wanted you to understand. That’s all.” She applied more pressure to his shoulder, still being as gentle as ever. “I didn’t mean to laugh at your comic, Rudy. I didn’t mean any harm. I’m sorry that I hurt your feelings. That wasn’t my intention.”

 

Rudy’s mouth ticked into a smile. “Oh..that’s okay... I was just..overreacting anyway.”

 

Penny, wanting to move on from the subject, looked down at the next two comics. “Can you explain to me what these are about?”

 

Rudy looked down at the comics. His eyes skimmed over them as the tried to figure out which one to talk about first. He soon settled on the vampire one. Might as well, since that was the one that Penny brought up before. He still felt a little upset about her comment, but he decided to brush it off. Not like she really meant any harm or anything.

 

He took the comics away, making Penny looked at him in confusion and disappointment. He simply smiled at her and gestured to her to follow him towards the building.

 

“Let’s go over there and sit down.” Rudy suggested. “It’ll be easier for me to show you when we’re both comfortable.”

 

At this, Penny smiled and nodded. “Okay.”

 

The two kids walked over to the school building. They put their backs against the wall and slid down onto the ground. Penny moved a little closer to Rudy as the boy opened up the zombie comic book. They were instantly greeted with the cover, which was rather simple. Just a black background with a side profile of the zombie character, the mouth open and fangs dripping in blood.

 

“Ooo....” Penny said, her mouth briefly opened in an ‘o’ shape. “So is that the main character?”

 

Rudy shook his head. “That’s the main bad guy.”

 

“Oh... Yeah zombies do make for popular villains.” Penny looked over at Rudy. “Do you mind reading it to me?”

 

“Oh, sure.” Rudy did feel a little awkward doiong that. Penny was fully capable of reading. He wasn’t sure why she didn’t do it herself. Maybe she wanted some entertainment out of the deal? “I can do that.”

 

“Good.” Penny narrowed her eyes slightly as her grin broadened. She raised up her hands and wriggled her fingers. “You should totally read it in a scary voice!”

 

Rudy couldn’t help but chuckle at this. Penny had spoken in this same voice and made almost the exact same motion earlier when he was reading to her the ChalkZone comic. He wasn’t sure why, but she sounded so cute when she did it. He couldn’t get himself to stop smiling broadly, no matter how hard he tried to stop.

 

“Oh? You really think so?” Asked Rudy.

 

“Yeah, totally!” Penny nodded her head. “I’m sure you’d do a great voice over! You’re a pretty talented kid, from what I’ve seen.”

 

Rudy felt his face tingle at this. No one in school had really said that about him. They’d either ignore him, or they would mock what he had created, making him feel worthless. But with Penny, he felt like he could do anything. Her kind words were giving him massive inspiration and encouragement, two things that he had been sorely lacking in.

 

He thought about her idea, of reading the comic in a spooky voice. Yeah, that sounded like it could be fun. The comic was supposed to have some horror element to it. Yeah, he should do that. He started to turn his head to begin reading the first page when he noticed that Penny’s expression changed.

 

She wasn’t smiling anymore. She was staring at him with an expression of confusion. Slowly, her eyes narrowed and her head tilted in one direction. Rudy wasn’t sure what she was looking at, but it wasn’t directly into his eyes. He gritted his teeth in confusion. Just what was Penny looking at? He opened his mouth to ask her, but Penny soon pointed a finger towards him, her eyes locked onto his head, specifically what appeared to be his cheeks.

 

“Are you blushing?”

 

Rudy’s eyes immediately bulged at this. He was doing what? Oh gawd, how could he do that, and in front of Penny? He didn’t mean to. It just...kind of happened. He immediately lowered his head and turned away.

 

“So, do you want to...” Rudy started to say.

 

“Rudy, it’s all right.” Penny reached forward and touched his shoulder. He turned and looked at her with a single eye. “You don’t have to be so embarrassed about it. It’s a perfectly normal reaction. No need to feel bad.”

 

Rudy lifted up his head so he could face her. The two stared at each other for a few moments. He soon smiled at her. “Yeah, you’re right.” He turned his head and looked down at the first page. His smile grew playfully twisted. “Are you ready?”

 

Penny nodded her head. She gave him a playful smile back. She gently nudged him. “Bring it on, Tabootie!”

 

Rudy chuckled and he started. “He had no idea where he could go. The creature was following close behind....”

 

sss

 

The next couple of days at school were the same. Rudy would wake up in the morning, brush his teeth and comb his hair and take a bath. He would get changed and he’d head to school. He’d spend the day there, come home, and visit Snap. Or if he was lucky, he’d also visit Snap in the morning.

 

Lately, with Penny around, he had more of a reason to want to go to school. He hadn’t yet invited Penny to come over, and she had not done the same for him. He wasn’t sure what they were waiting for. Perhaps they were nervous. He still felt uncomfortable with going up and talking to her on his own. Perhaps she felt the same way, except she was a little braver since she actually did something instead of just sitting around and staring at nothing.

 

This was certainly a nice change of pace. He loved it. He didn’t have to be in ChalkZone all the time now to be with someone he could consider a friend.

 

Well he wasn’t sure if Penny would call him a friend and he wasn’t sure if he could do the same. And he didn’t want to diss Snap. He did care about the little guy and he did still have a lot of fun with him. It was just that... Snap couldn’t be here with him during school hours. Snap was unable to be with him during the time of day that he’d need him the most.

 

But Penny could. He wanted to strengthen their interactions and hope to develop into something deeper than just mere acquaintance. He would not use the F word around her until he was certain that she considered him the F word.

 

Friend.

 

He thought momentarily about introducing Penny to Snap. But how would he go about that? He would have to figure a way to get Snap into the Real World, something he hadn’t done before, and interact with Penny without the girl figuring out about ChalkZone.

 

But such a thing would be hard to set up. He would need to plan it very specifically so that Penny stood no chance of seeing the portal. He then had to figure out some kind of lie to explain anything that Penny might ask him. There was always that chance that she’d ask him something that would either have him spill the beans on ChalkZone automatically, or make him have to stop and try to figure out a way to explain it without exposing ChalkZone.

 

With all that trouble, he wasn’t sure if it was best to introduce these two at all. It might bring more issues than it was worth. The idea of not being able to do still disappointed him. He would love to be able to introduce the two together at some point.

 

Then a thought crossed his mind. It was something that he never thought of before. Inconceivable, and unexpected. If Snap heard him say this, he’d probably slap him a few times and ask him if he was okay.

 

What if he were to bring Penny into ChalkZone...?

 

The idea made him froze in his tracks, his eyes widening in horror. To introduce someone else to ChalkZone... Could he really do such a thing? He had promised Snap that he wouldn’t just bring in any person from the Real World. Rudy knew just how horrible of an idea that was. He would never forget the day that he had found out.

 

He and Snap were on the Amazing River when they had found a cave filled with magic chalk. Rudy had previously been unaware of the mine’s existence, and there was so much magic chalk in it, it would last him a life time. The whole cavern was filled with the stuff, and he had a feeling there was a lot more where this came from.

 

But he and Snap weren’t able to explore because Cyclops had shown up. The massive giant hated him instantly just for being a human, a creator. The giant had proved to be quite troublesome for them and he had tried to capture him and Snap and...well, he wasn’t entirely sure what he was goign to do. Nothing good, he presumed. He and Snap were able to escape after some quick thinking and he hung Cyclops upside down. He hadn’t seen the gaint since, but he didn’t dare go back for fear of being caught by him. Any new trip there required stealth, and his best friend Snap was often able to slip by Cyclops to get the magic chalk. Or Biclops as he might as well be called now, due to him drawing him an extra eye.

 

The giant zoner did have a good point about creators. He had revealed to him and Snap about what happened many years ago, when creators had more free reign.

 

It was a chaotic time. Creators running amok everywhere, drawing whatever they wanted, letting their creations wreak havoc across ChalkZone... Though the giant never really stated, Rudy could only imagine just how many zoners were hurt as a result of this wrecklessness exhibited by the other creators. It was no wonder that Cyclops was so iffy about letting him have the magic chalk. How was he to know that he wouldn’t draw anything horrible?

 

Because of that warning, Rudy felt some hesitance towards the idea of telling Penny. Regardless of how he felt about her, no matter how much he might grow to trust her, she might still betray him the moment they set into ChalkZone. She might turn out to be one of those people who would be a nasty creator. Or she might tell people about it, exposing it to countless people. Then all of them would be wanting a way in and...

 

He gripped his head and clenched his teeth tightly. The horrific repurcussions this decision would have were immense, and if he slipped up, the damage would be near irriversable. Was he really willing to jeopardize ChalkZone for the sake of entrusting one person to its secrecy? IT was such a huge risk and so much could go wrong.

 

Maybe he should talk to Snap about this first. Yeah...that seemed like a good idea. Maybe if he spoke with his friend, he might be able to figure out what he could do, or if he should drop the idea altogether.

 

Yeah, perhaps he should do that today. Normally around this time in school, he would be trying to find Penny and talk to her a little more or showing her one of his comics that he brought with. This time, there was going to be a little chance in plan. Before he could chat with Penny today, he needed to have a chat with Snap first. It won’t take long. He would be gone only for a few minutes.

 

The boy looked left and right to make sure no one was looking. He didn’t see Penny anywhere, but that was because she was staying in during part of recess to catch up on some homework. The other students hardly paid him much mind, so they wouldn’t really bother looking in his direction to see what he was doing. This made it the perfect time for him to slip away into ChalkZone.

 

He rushed towards the side of the school, where none of the students were located. He pushed himself against the wall to make himself harder to see for anyone passing by. He grabbed his magic chalk and he quickly drew a portal on the ground. He crawled through it, doing a doublecheck to make sure that no one was looking. Then he went all the way through the portal and erased it.

 

The boy looked around, trying to figure out which way his friend would be. He recalled that around this time, Snap is likely taking a walk through ChalkZone. He realized he would take forever to figure out which way to go if he just stood around and did nothing, so he just began his trek through. He had some time to kill, and so long as he remembered which way the school was, he should be fine.

 

“Snap?” He called out as he began the search for his friend.

 

sss

 

Phew...finally, she was finished. She wasn’t sure how long it was going to take to finish this report. She couldn’t believe she had forgotten all about it until now. It wasn’t like her.

 

But she supposed she was a little distracted by that Rudy boy. She spent some of her time talking to him, more so if he brought one of his comics over for her to look at. She hardly really spoke to anyone in general, even at her old school. It was kind of a new experience for her, speaking to another student and all.

 

She was by no means shy. She was just so busy usually with school work that she hardly really had much time to talk to someone else. She prided herself in her work, and strived to do as well as she could. She wanted to be able to go to a nice school when she got older. She knew that she was pretty young to be worried about that, but as her mother would tell her, she was never too young to start thinking about what school she wanted to go to.

 

She would have to get back on the ball again. She didn’t want to begin to slip and let her education go to waste. And all for what? Speaking to some boy? Yeah, that would make for a good excuse to her mom.

 

Why did she start flunking school? Oh, it was because she started to actually speak to someone.

 

But Penny didn’t want to place blame on Rudy. He seemed like a really nice kid, albeit shy. He wasn’t trying to ruin her chances at school or anything. Heck, he didn’t even know. She just needed to learn to balance things out a little more. There was no reason or excuse for her to start having issues when the only thing that’s changed is she speaks to another student during recess.

 

Well, at least the school work was done and accounted for. She could finally leave and head outside to meet up with Rudy. She would have to apologize to him for making their school meeting today much shorter, but he would understand, she’d think. He seemed like the understandable type of guy.

 

She went out onto the black top and looked around for him, a smile on her face. Despite her frustrations with herself, she looked forward to speaking to Rudy again today. She enjoyed their little chit chats and the sharing of comics. He had quite a bright mind, at least when it came to his comics, and while some were a little cheesy, they were pretty fun to read. She wondered what he had in store for her today, what comic he was going to bring with and share with her. She hoped it would be another about ChalkZone. That world he came up with was really fascinating. And Snap was quite a fun character.

 

She walked further into the black top playground. She listened to the sound of children playing. She could see them as they played jump rope or hopscotch, whatever else. Still smiling, she looked left and right, knowing that she would find Rudy among this crowd of screaming, happy children.

 

But something seemed really wrong today. As she looked around, she took notice that there seemed to be fewer children out. Strange, as it looked like just about everyone was there. Except...

 

Where was Rudy? Why wasn’t he here?

 

Penny’s smile faded quickly as she began to quicken her pace. She looked around, trying to find Rudy. Her mind raced with confusion and fear when she wasn’t able to see him anywhere. After a while of searching, she was able to confirm that Rudy was nowhere on the black top.

 

Her heart began to beat hard. This didn’t make any sense. Why wasn’t Rudy out here? Could he have gotten out and run off? No, he didn’t seem like the kind of kid who would do that. Had he gotten detention? No, he would have been in the room with her in that case. But if it was neither of those things, then what could have happened?

 

The girl stood there, frozen in shock, as she struggled to figure out what she should do. Most of her mind was screaming at her to go to the principal’s office to tell of what had happened. The faster they started to search for Rudy, the better.

 

But another part of her was trying to settle her down. There might be a place on the black top that Rudy was hiding. She hadn’t checked around the school’s sides or back. Maybe Rudy wanted to get away from the others, to go hide where he could be on his own. He seemed so secretive... Perhaps he would try to hide away from the others rather than join them in any kind of game. In fact, she never saw him play with anyone...

 

Penny began to make her way towards the back of the school. Whenever she found him, she was going to have a talk with him about his hiding away. But before she could even get that close, she was stopped by someone she would rather not have seen.

 

“Reggie Bullnerd! Get out of my way!” Penny snarled as she glared at the bulky bully.

 

Reggie just chuckled, folding his arms against his chest. He stood in Penny’s path, not allowing her to get any closer. Penny tried to walk around him, but the bully would simply move around, continuing to block her. All the while, he hadn’t spoken, just smirked at her as he took great pleasure in annoying her.

 

Penny growled at this. She didn’t have time to deal with Reggie today. She might not have known him for long, but she already seen enough of him to know he was trouble. She had done her best to avoid him, but it seemed like today, Reggie decided to take it upon himself to target her.

 

Penny tried again to get around him. She decided to play a little ‘game’ with Reggie. She moved slowly to one side, letting Reggie reposition himself to block her again. Then, tensing up her leg muscles, waiting for the right moment, she bolted around. The action was so quick, that Reggie had a hard time keeping up with her. Penny felt a short rush of air as Reggie lurched forward, trying to grab onto her. He missed completely, and Penny rushed over, now at the side of the school.

 

She looked around. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw that Rudy wasn’t here. She hoped he was. Maybe he was a little further back? Ignoring Reggie behind her, the girl started to walk along the side of the school. She didn’t have much time left in recess. Maybe if she hurried up and...

 

“Are you looking for your boyfriend?” Reggie taunted behind her.

 

Penny froze at that statement, her eyes widening in shock. Then she let out a groan, shaking her head slightly. She decided it was best to try to ignore Reggie. He was just trying to egg her on.

 

But Reggie certainly wasn’t the type to give up, as she had learned earlier, from watching him pick on some other students in the school. She could hear him start to rush towards her. Penny quickened her pace a little, but didn’t break to a full blown run. She didn’t want to tempt Reggie. He was genderless when it came to whom he decided to beat up.

 

“Aww...what’s the matter?” Reggie laughed at her as he joined her at her side. “Are you sad that Tabootie isn’t around to show you another one of his stupid comics?”

 

Penny gnashed her teeth at this. No, she couldn’t do anything. She had to try to ignore him. Don’t let him get to her. It was only going to make things worse...

 

Reggie took the silence as a victory. She could hear him give a cold laugh. “I knew it! You must really love those comics of his, or is it because you’re just feeling sorry for him because no one else does?” This made Penny freeze in her tracks. Reggie’s smile spread as he walked around, soon positioning himself in front of her. “I’m right, aren’t I? You don’t really love those comics. I’ve seen your reactions. They looked pretty fake to me. You’re just trying to boost his ego.”

 

Penny could feel emotion quake through her body. She couldn’t believe that Reggie had the gall to say that of her, to try to make it seem like she was lying to Rudy. That wasn’t true, and Reggie had no right to say otherwise. He wasn’t her, after all.

 

But she tried not to say anything. She knew that Reggie was just trying to give him an excuse to punch her. She did not want to give him that reason. She had to continue ignoring him the best that she could. Maybe he would get bored and just walk away. Maybe he would find someone else to beat up, like one of those boys he frequents for lunch money.

 

But unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. The bully hadn’t given up. It was as if he had placed a target on her for the day, as he was showing no signs of leaving. She was his personal target, and unless she started to defend herself, there was nothing she could really do about it.

 

“Why do you like that junk anyway? What kind of talent could that loser possibly possess? He wastes his time on those stupid cartoons. Who is going to like some world made of chalk? Only some stupid two year old would come up with something like that!”

 

Penny couldn’t take it anymore. She whipped her head around, her fiery eyes meeting Reggie’s icy ones. The large boy took a step back, his expression registering surprise for a second. Then that glare returned, and he adopted a slightly more hostile stance, as if he feared she was going to strike him.

 

“What did you say...?” Penny hissed at him. A stupid question, but she couldn’t help but let hit flow out of her mouth.

 

Reggie sneered, “Oooo... getting a little touchy, aren’t we? Is it because you are afraid that Tabootie is nearby and you want to keep pretending to be his friend and keep pretending like you love his stupid comic strips?”

 

Penny growled softly. She took a step towards Reggie, her body trembling. She pointed a finger towards the bully. “Now you see here...”

 

sss

 

Snap gave Rudy a weird expression. It was one of those looks where it was difficult for Rudy to tell just what his friend was thinking. Often, it made him feel even more nervous, as he could not tell if he upset his friend or not.

 

He had just finished telling Snap his idea of introducing a friend of his to ChalkZone. He did think about giving the name, but for now, that wasn’t really important. It didn’t matter what Penny’s name was, or if she was a boy or a girl. The end result was the same: he was planning on introducing another human to ChalkZone.

 

The blue zoner was silent for a little while. His expression slowly changed, and now Snap could see that the zoner was merely worried, and also shocked. He was staring at Rudy, as if expecting the boy to tell him that he was just joking. But Rudy gave no such look. He merely nodded his head, a way of confirming for Snap that he was actually serious about this.

 

Snap bit his lip at this. “I’m...not sure about this.”

 

“I know it’s not a smart thing to do... but Snap...” Rudy’s voice trailed off as he tried to think of how to continue this. How could he explain this to Snap? How could he tell him why he wanted to do this? A part of him wasn’t so certain himself.

 

“Look, I know you might be feeling stressed about being the only human in your world to know about ChalkZone.” Snap said. He motioned his hand towards the boy. “But I don’t think it is a wise thing to drag someone that you just met into ChalkZone. Heck,” He spread his hands out. “It’s risky for you to bring anyone else here. You never know hat they might do! The last thing we need is for that giant to catch wind of this and come chase us away!”

 

Rudy shuddered at the thought. He certainly didn’t want to have to confront Cyclops again. He had been lucky the first time they had encountered him. He didn’t know how lucky he’d be by the second.

 

Snap continued, “Besides, you have been coming into ChalkZone alone for two years! Why did you now start thinking about sharing it with someone else?”

 

Rudy stared at his friend. He looked at his confused features, and he lowered his head slightly. A part of him wondered if Snap felt a little betrayed. They had been a duo for so long. Did his friend feel threatened by the possibility of them becoming a trio, should things work out with Penny? Did Snap feel gipped that, after two years of exploring ChalkZone alone, that he had wanted to change things up a little?

 

He didn’t mean to upset his friend. That wasn’t his intention. But... He wasn’t sure how he could explain it. He just wanted to be able to spend time with both of them. He had been on his way to developing a friendship with Penny. If he succeeded in that...

 

“I think we could have a lot of fun together.”

 

Rudy put his hand over his mouth. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. He didn’t think it through, and though it made sense, he wished he had said it better. But fortunately, Snap appeared to understand.

 

“Ah I see... I think I know what’s going on here.” Snap rubbed his chin thoughtfully, a smile spreading across his face. “You’re worried about not spending enough time with either of us.” He paused, and then pointed a rounded hand towards Rudy. “Isn’t that right?”

 

“I...” Rudy couldn’t deny it. “Yeah... I don’t want to leave either of you left out. So I thought that if I introduced you guys...”

 

“Say no more. I understand what you’re trying to say. Yeah, I can see your point.” Snap rubbed his chin thoughtfully. His eyes narrowed slightly. “I’m not sure if there’s any easy way to go about this, Rudy.” He shrugged his shoulders, his hands held out at his sides. “I’m sorry. There’s just no easy, definite answer to this. This person you mentioned might handle ChalkZone fine, but then...they could also turn against you, and reveal it to everyone. Then we would have quite a mess.”

 

Rudy shivered at the thought. Snap was right. This was something he was worried about. He had thought about this earlier, over and over again. But no matter how he looked at it, there was no sure fire way to know if Penny was going to betray him or not. He didn’t know her well enough to be able to make that kind of determination.

 

No matter how certain he was that Penny wouldn’t do such a thing, Rudy couldn’t help but be reminded of how badly things turned out with Toroh. His body gave a cold shiver at the thought of that name. He had no idea if Penny would turn out the same as he did.

 

**Of course not. She could be hiding it well, just like Toroh had.**

 

_You don’t know for certain!_

 

**Neither do you, kid. Need I remind you of how nice Toroh had been in the beginning? How he had treated you like you belonged? How he had been everything that you wanted to have?**

 

_Th-That’s different! He was obviously faking it!_

 

**But you were so desperate for attention, you looked past any obvious signs. Then again, Toroh was a good actor.**

 

_Well it’s over now. It’s not going to happen again. I swear it!_

 

**Good luck with that, kid. You should brace yourself up for failure. Don’t forget what happened with Toroh when he had lured you into that barn.**

 

_....no...Penny w-w-wouldn’t..._

 

**She wouldn’t what? Do what Toroh did to you? Perhaps not. Maybe she wouldn’t waste her time associating with a questionable crowd. Perhaps she wouldn’t try to introduce you to some ‘fun’. But remember that things could have always gotten worse with Toroh. Penny might be just that. Someone worse.**

 

Rudy shook his head. No, Penny wouldn’t be like that. She wouldn’t be another Toroh. No, she...

 

“Rudy?”

 

The boy’s body gave a sudden jerk at that voice. “What? Who?” He looked left and right, his eyes widened in almost fear. He then noticed Snap staring at him, confused and worry. “Oh...hi, Snap.”

 

Snap said, “You were spacing out there, Bucko.” He tilted his head to one side. “Is something wrong?”

 

Rudy turned his head to the side. “I’m just... a little worried myself. I..I can’t help but think about...Toroh...”

 

At the mention of that name, Snap let out a cry of horror. Rudy watched his friend jump up in the air. If he had fur, it would be standing straight up, bristling sharply. “Toroh?!” Snap put his hands to his mouth. “Did he get out?!”

 

“No...nothing like that.” Rudy shook his head.

 

Snap wiped his brow. “Phew..that’s good.” His smile faded away quickly. “So...why are you thinking about him?”

 

“I guess I’m..just a little worried that this person might...turn out like him.” Rudy was ashamed to admit that. But he knew Snap wouldn’t stop pestering him until he did tell him. Plus, the zoner could tell by his body language when he was attempting to hide something. So might as well get it out in the open now. “I am afraid that they might be pretending ot like me so they can lure me into a false sense of security and...” Rudy couldn’t finish.

 

Snap stared up at him sympathetically. He reached over and placed a hand on his arm. “Oh, Rudy... I know Toroh affected you deeply.” The zoner gave a visible shudder at the mention of Toroh’s name. “But you can’t let that incident rule your life. Not everyone in the world is going to be like Toroh. This person you mentioned, they might be different. They might be just the person you need in your life.”

 

Rudy nodded his head. He couldn’t deny his friend’s words. He knew he was right. He shouldn’t be so quick to worry that everyone would end up like...like Toroh...

 

“Yeah, you’re right, Snap.” Rudy smiled at his friend. “..Thanks.”

 

“No problem, Bucko!” Snap said with a grin.

 

Rudy continued to smile at his friend. He did not say another word to him for a few moments. Though the smile stayed on his face, his thoughts were anything but cheerful. He was still trying to decide if he should bring Penny into ChalkZone or not. He tried to decide if it was the best route to take, or if he should just keep it a secret from her, just like he did with everyone else.

 

He had hoped coming here woud help him be more decisive with that decision. He was hoping that Snap would be able to provide some advice and help him figure out for certain if it was something he should be able to do, or if she should drop the idea entirely. While not disappointed, he wished that Snap had been a little more helpful.

 

But then...he was in the same boat, wasn’t he? How could any of them now how Penny would react if she didn’t know a thing about it? They hardly knew her either. Heck, Snap didn’t even know Penny, which was why he thought about introducing her to ChalkZone in the first place. But there were so many ways that this could go... And so may ways it could end badly...

 

He..he needed more time to think. He needed more time to try to figure this out. More time to plan. More time to...

 

“Hey, shouldn’t you be heading back?” Snap asked, cutting him from his thoughts. The zoner was looking at him somewhat anxiously his arms folded across his chest. “You were in here for a while. Isn’t it recess now on your side?”

 

Rudy’s eyes widened at this. “Oh my gosh, Snap... You’re right! Recess is almost over!” The boy instantly turned around and ran off. “Goodbye, Snap!” Rudy heard his friend bid him farewell as he ran across the field and towards where the school should be.

 

sss

 

Rudy felt relief when he found the portal not too long later. He drew a circle, allowing a portal to form. He began to crawl out of it, his heart practically pounding inside his chest cavity. He had never felt so grateful for Snap in his life. If it weren’t for him...

 

Rudy was not looking forward to having detention with Mr. Wilter. He would rather avoid that at all costs. He wasn’t the only one either. Most students would do what they could to avoid detention with Mr. Wilter. Well except Reggie, but that bully could care less anyway. The boy was so used to it, that threatening him with detention hardly did anything to him anymore, outside of just mildly annoy him.

 

Rudy realized that he only had a few minutes before the bell rang. It was a good thing Snapr eminded him of the time. Otherwise, he would have been sitting there in ChalkZone still, while Mr. Wilter would take notice of his absense and begin to spread the word and... He could not begin to imagine what kind of punishment would lie in store for him if he did something like that. Yeah, he was quite lucky indeed.

 

Soon he was out of the portal and he started to erase it. He heard some people chattering behind him, but he couldn’t tell who was there, nor could he discern the voices enoguh to identify anyone positively. He just figured it was the usual school ground romp. Perhaps Reggie was causing a scene or something.

 

However, when a familiar voice rung through the air, his heart all but stopped.

 

“...Rudy’s comics are stupid!”

 

That voice.... No... No, not her.. Anyone but her..please...

 

Rudy slowly turned his head in the direction of the voice. The fact that there were students not far from where the portal was didn’t even cross him. No one really said anything, anyway. They likely did not see him.

 

But in that moment, he did not care. The only thing that he cared about was that voice that spoke up. He stared out at the students, and now, he could see who they were.

 

It was Penny and Reggie... Well not just them, but a few other students had apparently joined in. It would seem as though Reggie and Penny were having some kind of discussion together. But Reggie and his expression weren’t what mattered to him right now. That voice from before... It was Penny who said it...

 

Rudy felt as though his heart was ripped in two. A cold, dark, icy sensation washed over him, making his body shake. He struggled to keep himself quiet. He tried not to cry, yet he could not stop the tears from starting to from. He took in a quick sniffle, taking a small step backwards. His wide, bulging eyes started at Penny in disbelief, unable to come to terms with what happened.

 

**See? I told you she would be like the rest. Didn’t I warn you?**

 

_It’s..it’s not possible... She couldn’t have..._

 

**But she said your comics were stupid. She’s a filthy liar, just like Toroh was. Do you really need more evidence?**

 

Rudy managed to choke out, “P-Penny...”

 

At this, the students took notice of Rudy. Most of them had a surprised expression on their faces. They looked at one another, as if they realized what was about to go down. Reggie merely smirked at him, his smile broadening as he looked over at him. Penny, on the other hand, looked shocked at Rudy being there. But not the horrified shock like he thought, but something more close to the other students. This fact was enough to make his blood start to heat up slightly.

 

“Rudy! What are you... Where were you?” Penny said. She turned around and started to walk towards Rudy. “I was hoping to talk to you and...” Penny froze and her eyes furrowed in concern when she saw Rudy cringe away from her. “Rudy...what’s wrong..?”

 

Rudy couldn’t believe it. Did she really just say that? Did Penny just try to deny what she had done...? It was just like Toroh... His inner self doubt was right about her. It was right all along...

 

Well of course I’m right. Penny is no different than the rest. She just felt sorrow for you. Pitied you. And now she is throwing you under the rug. Perhaps you should do the same for her? Show her the same amount of respect that she is showing you now.

 

“You...” Rudy said, his teeth bared. “You tricked me...”

 

Penny’s eyes widened in confusion at this. “What..?” She shook her head. “No..I...”

 

Rudy backed away from her. He didn’t want to be anywhere near her. The cold, icy sensation burned around him, and each step felt as though he were trying to move through a thick covering of snow. “Don’t you dare lie to me, Sanchez!” He called out, deliberately using Penny’s last name instead of her first. “You just said that you thought my comics were stupid!”

 

“Rudy, I-I didn’t..” Penny started to say.

 

Reggie laughed coldly at this. He folded his arms asgainst his chest and straightened himself up, almost as if to make himself look proud. “Yeah, that’s right! She did use those exact words!”

 

Penny whirled around and snarled at the bully. “Reggie!”

 

Rudy gave a loud sniffle, his eyes narrowing into slits as the anger became more prevelant on his face. He took another step back as Penny looked over at him, her eyes shining of what looked like sorrow. But no...He knew the truth about her. That wasn’t sorrow. That was just acting.

 

Rudy wanted to say something else. He wanted to call the girl out for her lies and deceit. He wanted to ask her how her mother could have raised her in such away. He wanted to ask her if she enjoyed toying with him like he was nothing. But these words would not escape his mouth. He could only stare at her, his teeth gritted, seething in and out quickly. His vision began to blur as his angered and saddened tears warped his vision, staining his cheeks, stinging them. His body shook harder, each step becoming harder and harder with his wobbly legs.

 

Penny sucked her lip nervously. She took a step forward. “Rudy...please... I-I never said that....”

 

Rudy curled his lip back into a snarl. “You’re just like Toroh...”

 

Penny froze at this. Even though she couldn’t possibly know who he was, the true meaning and impact behind the comparison was not lost on her. She shook her head slowly. “Rudy, it’s not what you think. I didn’t...”

 

Rudy had enough of it. He didn’t want to listen to anymore of this lying bitch’s words. Without bothering to say goodbye, he turned and he began to flee from her, towards the school. She called out to him several times, but he did not listen. He just kept running.

 

sss

 

Rudy laid in his bed, stretched across it on his stomach. He held onto the pillow as he pressed his face against it and sobbed loudly. He could feel it getting soaking wet, stained with his tears, but he didn’t care. He just kept going, his nose growing stuffy and his vision becoming very blurry.

 

He didn’t know how long he had been here crying. He had been in here at least since he got home. He had avoided Penny the rest of the day and immediately hopped on the bus to get home when the school day was over. His parents had tried to greet him when he came home, but he immediately rushed past them and ran up to his room. He had been in here ever since.

 

He did feel a little guilty about hiding away from his parents. They had tried to talk to him. At least three times over the course of...hours he guessed, they had knocked on his door and tried to get him to speak. He wouldn’t say anything, not even a ‘go away’ or anything. He just pressed his face against his pillow and continue to cry.

 

Besides, what could he tell them? That their best friend’s daughter was a filthy liar? That the person they trusted so much did a piss poor job in raising their offspring? That Penny wasn’t at all what he had imagined she would be? He didn’t know how they would take it. And right now, he just didn’t want to talk to them.

 

He could feel his sobs eventually die down. He curled up onto the bed, his mind crowding with the thoughts of what had happened. It was still so hard for him to believe. He wanted to think it was some kind of bad dream, but each time he’d pinch himself, he’d know that he wasn’t sleeping.

 

He took in a shaky breath at this realization. This meant that Penny really had said that horrible thing about his comics. He sniffled softly, a few more tears dripping down his face. He couldn’t believe that Penny would have lied to him like that. Why would she do that? Why would she go on about how she liked his art, if she, in the end, hated it? Why didn’t she just be honest in the first place? It would have hurt a lot less if she had.

 

But that wasn’t the only thing that had him so angry and sad. Penny had tried to lie to him yet again. When he confronted her on the playground, Penny had tried to tell him that she didn’t say those words, despite the fact that he heard them quite well when he came through the portal. There was no mistaking it. He did not imagine those words. She had spoken it. He didn’t believe it because of what Reggie said. He believed it because that is what he had heard.

 

Why would Penny try to lie about it? Did she really want to continue playing him for some kind of fool? Did she really want to break his heart more? Just how much further could she drag him through the mud? How far did she want to go?

 

The fact that he had school tomorrow chilled him to the bone. He did not want to face Penny again after that. He still recalled how she had kept trying to get his attention, no matter how hard he gave her the cold shoulder. No doubt, she would try to lure him into a false sense of security tomorrow. Probably with some kind of lame ass story about how it was all just a misunderstanding and how she would never say stuff like that about his work. What rubbish.

 

He stared over at the chalkboard. He kept his eyes level with it for a while. He felt a sensation of calmness wash over him as he kept looking at it. Going into ChalkZone and speaking to Snap sounded like a good idea. Or even just going there to hang out with him and play some games, just something to get his mind off what happened to Penny. At least Snap, unlike that girl, would never betray him. He was a true friend that he could count on. If he went over there to speak to him about Penny, he’d understand and say what he could to help him feel better.

 

He let out a sigh. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to bother Snap right now with his pitiful sorrow, though. Rudy never felt too comfortable with speaking about his problems with others. He could ask questions, but when it came to personal stuff, it was harder. Snap really had to pry the information out of Rudy for him to find out about Toroh.

 

But...he didn’t want to keep this all bottled up. And his friend did deserve to know what happened. He was not sure if he could speak to his parents right now. He was nervous about the idea and he still wasn’t sure how he was going to break the news to them about Penny. His mother and father had both been so hopeful.... Although he knew that they would find out sooner or later and that it was useless hiding it from them, the small boy made a decision to just not tell his parents. At least, for now.

 

He glared over at the chalkboard softly. He had a little bit of time. His parents wouldn’t check on him until about half an hour later. That was enough time for him to slip away into ChalkZone and talk to Snap. It was going to be hard to tell anyone, but telling Snap would be the easiest one.

 

Rudy sat up on his bed. He sniffled again, wiping away his nose. He rubbed his arm against his side to get rid of the wetness. He walked towards the portal, pulling out his magic chalk. He took a moment to look over to make sure that his parents didn’t decide to come up early. He then turned back to the chalkboard. He stared at it for a moment, letting out a sigh as he felt himself being plagued by his recent memories.

 

Originally, remembering Penny’s compliments would have filled him with happiness. They had been the only positive ones he had gotten on his comics aside from his parents.

 

But now that he knew the truth, and what Penny’s real thoughts were.... Those memories just made his gut twist sharply. He felt nausea sweep up his stomach and he did his best to resist the urge to throw up. Penny had lied to him and now those words just filled him with hurt. He could feel his confidence shattering into pieces and his love for his comics dwindled a little as self doubt began to plague him.

 

He needed to talk to Snap right now. He would know what to say. He always knew just how to brighten up his day. Snap hated seeing him so sad, and he would often do whatever it took to try to help him feel better. That’s what he needed right now.

 

Rudy placed the chalk against the board. Slowly, he drew a circle, connecting the two white ends together. There was a quick, golden flash before the portal materialized before him. He took a step back, letting the light of the Day Zone touch him. It felt warmer this time around, the world overall looking even more welcoming and accepting than the Real World did at this point. He did not hesitate for long and he crawled into the hole, dropping onto the grassy ground of ChalkZone.

 

He got up and brushed himself off. He looked left and right, trying to see where his friend was. He was about to take a step forward when he heard a voice call out to him.

 

“Bucko? What are you doing here?”

 

Rudy looked behind him. He could see his blue friend rushing towards him, waving his hand in the air. The look on Snap’s face was that of confusion. The zoner clearly had not bene expecting him in ChalkZone at this time.

 

“Shouldn’t you be asleep or having dinner or what?” Asked Snap.

 

Rudy nodded his head stiffly. “Y-Yeah... But I..” He couldn’t help but lower his head and sniffle. He hated doing this in front of Snap, but he could not help it.

 

Snap immediately took notice. “Rudy... What’s wrong...?”

 

Rudy stared at his friend sadly for a moment. He closed his eyes and lowered his head. “It’s...It’s about...Penny...” He had to practically spit out the name.

 

Snap flinched at this. He walked towards Rudy slowly. He reached over and touched his hand. “Tell me what happened...”

 

sss

 

Damn... What a horrible, rotten day...

 

Things had started off so well. Penny had been looking forward to seeing another of Rudy’s comics. She had thought it would be like any other day. There was nothing that happened earlier that made her think that today would be any different.

 

But things went downhill fast. She got into a fight with Reggie Bullnerd. She should have listened to her gut instinct and just leave him alone and go about her business. But she had failed to heed her own words, and she and him got into an argument. She had been so pulled into it, she had failed to notice that Rudy had been standing behind her. For how long, she wasn’t sure, but long enough for damage to be dealt.

 

Or at least, that’s what Rudy thought. Penny had only been defending his work. Rudy had not heard the full sentence. If he had, he would not have reacted the way he did. She had tried to explain it to him, but her misinterpreted words had hurt him too much, and he ran off. Penny tried later that day to explain, but the boy did all he could to ignore and avoid her.

 

Penny felt hurt by this. She would have thought that Rudy would have at least tried to listen to her side of the story. It was quite a shock when he wouldn’t listen to her, and how quickly he had turned against her despite the few days they spent getting to know each other and building up some kidn of relationship. While there might be a reason for it, for the time being, she just felt...betrayed, she guessed was the right word.

 

A part of her wondered if his reaction really had such a strong connection to this Toroh kid he mentioned. He had accused her of being like him. This twisted her heart. She knew it wasn’t true. But she couldn’t help but morbidly wonder just what Toroh had done to hurt Rudy so badly. She would have asked if Rudy had stayed and tried to speak with her.

 

Maybe her mother could help her out. She wanted to get this misunderstanding done and out of the way quickly. She didn’t want Rudy to stay home at night and let this fear fester for long. The sooner this is all cleared up, the better.

 

It would have to wait until tomorrow, she realized. Her mother was asleep and so was she. She’d have to make a mental note to ask her mother tomorrow morning about what happened. There was no guarantee that her mother would be able to help. But if there was any advice her mother could give, she would.

 

Whatever her mother told her, Penny could only hope that it was enough to soothe the conflict between her and Rudy, to relieve the tension and have them return to being....friends.

 

It felt a little strange referring to him as that. They hadn’t known each other that long. But...yes, that is how she would describe Rudy. She had gotten to know him the past few days, and she did like him. She could easily consider him a friend. She could see the potential for them to become even better friends as time moved on. She hoped that this misunderstanding didn’t ruin that.

 

She turned her attention to her bed. There was little she could do right now, she reminded herself. She should get to bed and get ready for school tomorrow.

 

She went over towards her desk. She pulled out a piece of paper and pen. She wrote down her reminder for tomorrow to talk to her mom about the incident. There was a bit of time in the morning. They could have a brief discussion before she headed out. She then set the pen down and went over to her bed. She climbed into it, pulling the covers over her body.

 

But she did not got to sleep. At least not yet. She found her mind wandering, going into an analytical mode like it often did. She had to figure out a backup plan in case her mother can’t help or she forgot or the paper got lost. After all, it was always good to come up with more than one plan.

 

She knew what path she’d have to take if her mother was of no aid to her. She’d have to confront Rudy herself. She wasn’t sure how easily she could do this. Recess seemed like the best plan, but Reggie might screw things up again, and there were so many students... She wondered if Rudy would even feel comfortable talking to her in front of them about this. And would she even be able to get Rudy to talk at all? Or would he try to run away from her? Would her advances make her seem so intimidating to the boy? She wouldn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable. She’d have to find a way to confront him without making him feel cornered. But how?

 

At the moment, she couldn’t really think of anything. Maybe she could figure out something after she woke up tomorrow. She had resolved some of her past conflicts this way. Go to sleep, wake up with an idea. Maybe this one would be no different. It was getting late anyway. Best get to sleep now before she would get herself in trouble tomorrow.

 

She closed her eyes and let out a sigh. She curled up, rubbing the side of her face against the bed. She rapidly drifted off to sleep.

 

sss

 

Penny stared down at the bowl of cereal in front of her. She hadn’t eaten too much of it yet. She found herself swirling the spoon around, almost playing with her food. She let out a sigh. She found herself unable to take her mind off what happened the other day. She hoped that, today, she could get that all cleared up with Rudy.

 

But a part of her was quite nervous, worried that smething might happen to make it worse. She tried not to let herself get so worked up, but this was a rather difficult task to pull off. She had no idea what might happen in school today, or if Rudy would even let her near enough to speak with him. She still planned on at least trying, but a part of her didn’t want to hold out for any kind of miracle.

 

“Penita?”

 

Penny looked over and she could see her mother had turned her head away from the kitchen sink, her hands still holding onto one of the plates from yesterday, and she was staring at her intently.

 

“Is something wrong?” Her mother asked.

 

Penny lowered her head and turned it away. “It’s...regarding that Rudy kid.”

 

“Oh? You mean the Tabooties’ son?” At Penny’s nod, her mother continued, “Did you two get into some sort of fight?”

 

Penny shook her head. “No, nothing like that.” She stopped herself and thought about that. “Well...not in that sense anyway. I mean...” She turned her head and rubbed the back of it nervously. She couldn’t believe how badly she was slipping this up. What hope did she have for communicating with Rudy if she couldn’t even explain anything to her mother? “I’m not sure how I can...”

 

“Slow down, Penny. Take it easy.” Her mother cooed softly. “Speak slowly.”

 

Penny clenched her teeth tightly, shutting her eyes. She took in a few slow breaths, feeling her heart slowly return to normal. She kept doing this as she felt the anxious feeling slip down through her body. Eventually, she felt like she was ready to continue. She straightened herself up and stared at her mother in the eyes.

 

There was still some hesitation at first. She needed a few moments to collect her thoughts and think about how she was going to tell her mother. She didn’t want to slip up and accidentally have her mother believe something that wasn’t true. She didn’t want to drag her mother deep into this misunderstanding as well. Once she felt she was ready, she turned back to her mother and began to speak.

 

“I got into a fi...well an argument, with Reggie Bullnerd. He was attacking Rudy’s comics, and I was defending them. But Rudy overheard and he...” Her voice trailed off. She clenched her teeth as she felt a sting of pain in her chest. It was still painful how a simple misunderstanding might have led her to losing a potential friend. She sighed, “He thinks I insulted his work. He thinks that I was just pretending to be his friend...and he said I was no different than Toroh...” Penny noticed her mother’s face paling. She bit her lip nervously. “What is it...? Do you know him...?”

 

Her mother didn’t answer right away. She stared at Penny for a few seconds, her eyes wide. If she were to attempt to say no, Penny would realize that it was just a fib. Her mother wouldn’t act this way if it wasn’t a big deal. Nor would she be thinking of something else; her mother always paid attention to her when she spoke.

 

That would mean only one thing. Toroh was apparently more well known than she had previously thought. And if her mother, who wasn’t the easiest to truly scare, was frightened by the name... She knew that she would have to take this very seriously.

 

Although she knew it wasn’t any of her business, a part of her just had to know what happened. If she could learn more about this Toroh character, perhaps she could reach a better understanding of why Rudy was the way he was. She already got some understanding with how Reggie treats him. But Rudy seemed to be more afraid of Toroh than he was Reggie.

 

So she decided to ask. “Mama... Just..who is Toroh...?”

 

Her mother took a sharp intake of breath at that question. She stared down at Penny, licking her lips nervously. Penny could tell her mother didn’t feel very comfortable with this topic. She felt a pang of guilt for bringing it up. She would have retracted her question if her curiosity wasn’t driving her forward.

 

“I....I think that is a story for when you are older, dear.” Her mother finally told her after an awkward silence.

 

“But mom... I have to know. I...” Penny protested.

 

Her mother shook her head. “I’m sorry, Penita. But... That is a story for another time. I’ll tell you in a few years.” She furrowed her eyes in regret. “I’m sorry. I promised Rudy’s parents I wouldn’t spread the word too much.” She looked down at her daughter sadly. “It’s not something they like talking about.”

 

Penny felt the heaviness of disappointment in her chest. But she didn’t try to argue with her mother more. There was no getting the information from her now. But at least she understood the hesitation. And now that she did, she lowered her head and spoke, “It...must have been really bad, huh...?”

 

“More than you know.” Her mother spoke sadly. Penny lifted her head and stared up at her mom. She watched as the woman lowered her gaze, her eyes moving from side to side. “When they had told me, I..I couldn’t elieve it. But I knew they wouldn’t lie.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “It was a rather unfortunate situation that poor Rudy got himself into. I’m surprised he can still function as well as he is now.”

 

“Did you...expect worse?” Penny whispered softly, almost dreading the answer.

 

Her mother gave a stiff nod. That act alone made Penny’s heart skip a beat, making her wonder even more about what had happened. “After how Toroh used him and betrayed him, I would have thought that he...” She paused. She sucked a breath through her teeth. “Well, I’m just glad that he was still stable enough to speak to you.”

 

Penny felt her heart twist at this. Though she still didn’t know everything that had happened, she now had a bit of a better understanding. Toroh must have hurt him real bad for him to compare her to him in such a way. She still wanted to know more about this, to try to understand more completely just why Rudy felt this way. But for now, she would try to drop it, and accept what her mother told her.

 

But there was still the matter of how she was going to get Rudy to understand that she didn’t betray him. She was not Toroh, and after what she had heard about him, she did not want to be. She needed to break this misunderstanding before it got out of hand.

 

“Mom...” Penny whispered softly. “Do you...know what I can do?”

 

Her mother stared at her in confusion for a few seconds. Then she appeared to understand what she was getting at. “You mean about Rudy thinking that you turned against him?” Penny nodded her head. “Well...did you try talking to him before?”

 

“Yeah, but he kept running away from me. Well..not literally.” Penny said sadly. She closed her eyes as she remembered the incident. “He just..kept trying to avoid me. He didn’t let me get a word in edgewise.”

 

Her mother nodded her head slowly at this. “Well then... I suppose there really isn’t much you can do, except try to be a little more forceful. Try to get Rudy to listen to you.”

 

Penny wasn’t sure how good of an idea that was. She couldn’t help but be shocked at how her mother seemed to be suggesting being more in Rudy’s face. Didn’t that seem rather...risky? Wouldn’t that give Rudy more of a reason to not trust her? And what of the other students? The teachers? Wouldn’t she risk running into trouble if she did something like that?

 

Her mother had taken note of her confusion and she gave a soft chuckle. “Oh dear, I didn’t mean it like that.” Her mother walked over towards her, giving her a reassuring smile. “I didn’t mean for you to chase him around the school. I meant bring him over here.” She motioned with her hand outwards. Then she brought her hand up, holding it palm facing upwards. “Or you could go over there.”

 

Penny furrowed her eyes at this. She turned her head downwards. “I’m not sure... How could we get him to come over?” She paused for a moment. “And if we go over there....” Her eyes widened in horror. “What if Rudy’s parents don’t want me there...? What if they think I..?”

 

Penny stopped speaking when she felt her mother wrap her arms around her. She was pulled into a tight hug. She could feel her mother’s warmth all around her. In that moment, she had lost her voice as she leaned against her mother. She could feel her fingers run through her hair, causing her to close her eyes at this soothing gesture.

 

This did not completely erase her fears. She could still feel them burning and twisting inside of her. But at least, in that moment, in her mother’s arms, she did feel a little better.

 

“It will okay, Penny. Rudy’s parents wouldn’t hate you. They understand what their son has been through. They would understand that it was just confusion and nothing more. Don’t worry.”

 

Penny took a moment to think about her mother’s suggestion. She still wasn’t sure about it, but she did know that, deep down, it was the best option that she had. She would make herself look rather odd, draw attention to herself, if she tried to confront him during school. Arranging to go over to his house later on would be the better option, as his parents could be around to help keep him calm while seh tried to speak to him.

 

She would just have to leave him alone during school for the time being. That wouldn’t be too difficult. Just keep her distance a little and try not to make the boy feel threatened. Then later on, she could visit him at his place and explain to him what actually happened.

 

But what if he didn’t believe her? What if he accused her of lying? Of tricking him like Toroh? That was a possibility. Penny wasn’t sure how she could prove to him that she wasn’t lying. Reggie likely wasn’t going to confess and there wasn’t really anyone she knew that would stand up for her and tell Rudy that she really didn’t say that.

 

Though she hated the idea of lying, she considered the possibility of apologizing to Rudy in case nothing she or the adults say convinces him that she did not betray him. It would be a last resort. If Rudy continues to truly believe that she was responsible, then if she apologized, even if she didn’t actually commit the act, maybe Rudy would forgive her. Toroh certainly never apologized, so perhaps her apology would help further cement to Rudy that she was not like that guy.

 

“Thanks for your help, mama.” Penny whispered softly. She gently rubbed her head against her mother’s shoulder. “I..really appreciate it.”

 

“It’s no trouble at all, Penita.” Her mother whispered back, placing a quick kiss on her forehead. “Now...are you ready to go to school?”

 

Penny nodded her head slowly. “Yeah. I just need to get changed and I’ll be right down.”

 

Her mother smiled at her. “I’ll be waiting for you, sweetie.” She got up and headed towards the door. “Don’t be long.”

 

Penny watched her mother leave. She then looked down at her cereal. She hardly ate it. Oh well. She wasn’t very hungry anyway. She pushed the bowl away and she moved up to her bedroom to get changed. It didn’t take her too long to find what she wanted to wear. She was ready minutes later and she went outside.

 

She joined up with her mother. She climbed into her mother’s yellow vehicle and buckled herself in. Her mother turned the keys in the ignition and off they went. She gave her mother a quick, small smile, still grateful for her help. She then looked away, staring out of the window nervously. She wondered how Rudy was going to react to seeing her today.

 

sss

 

Was she here? No. He did not see her. How about over there? No, not there either. The boy took a moment to look all around, but eventually he realized that he truly was alone here. Well..not totally alone. There were other students around, but they hardly paid attention to him. But the person that he hoped he wouldn’t have to deal with, she, thankfully, didn’t appear to be anywhere around him.

 

He let out a sigh of relief when he realized that Penny wasn’t going to bother him today. He leaned back against the wall, his eyes trailing lazily over to the other students, watching them as they played.

 

It had been about twenty-four hours since it had happened, since he had learned what Penny really thought about his artwork. Despite the several hours that had passed, he was still shaken up by the experience. The memory etched into his brain, and he was unable to forget about it. No matter how hard he tried to shake it off, it failed miserably.

 

He was glad that Penny seemed to be smart enough to leave him alone. Though he had seen her earlier today when school started, and even though they shared the same classroom, she hadn’t really tried to talk to him. Perhaps since her cover had been blown, she saw no further reason to speak to him. Well at least she was decent enough to do that, and not rub the salt itno the wound anymore than it really needed to be.

 

Still, he didn’t feel like giving her too much credit. He didn’t want to acknowledge just how much she had really screwed him over. He felt that if he gave any sort of hint at that, it would mean surrendering to her. That might sound extreme, but Rudy couldn’t help but feel that way.

 

He hadn’t seen her on the playground yet. He guessed that she was either somewhere else out here, where he could not see her, or she was inside, working on another stupid report of hers. The thought of that made his heart clench. He couldn’t believe he had actualy said he liked her spider report. It wasn’t really that good now that he thought of it. Well, at least he wouldn’t say it sucked behind her back, unlike a certain someone.

 

As he stood there, waiting for recess to be over, he thought about what his parents and only friend, Snap, had said about the incident with Penny. They all had something to say about it.

 

His parents were reluctant to believe it. Rudy was not surprised. They were quite close with the girl’s mother, and they would have a hard time believing that their daughter would say something like that. Well if they didn’t want to believe, that was their problem. They weren’t there. They hadn’t heard what he did. He knew that, if they had been there, they’d be singing a different tune.

 

Snap was quite upset by the news, but not as much as Rudy thought he was. Unlike his parents, Snap did think it was quite possible Penny really said that. But rather than condemn her outright, Snap instead suggested that he try to talk to her and tell her how he felt about what she said. He was under the impression that perhaps Penny would apologize for her harsh words.

 

Apologize? Rudy tried his best not to chuckle at the thought. No one else had ever apologized to him before. Why would Penny be any different?

 

Well yeah, she did speak to him more often than anyone else. She did act nice toward him, something that almost no one outside a very small group had really done for him. She had broken his expectations before. Why wouldn’t she do it again?

 

But...would he be willing to forgive her if she did apologize? Would he be willing to pardon her for what she had done to him? He wasn’t sure at this point if he could, or wanted to, forgive her. That burning anger he had started to feel earlier was still present. He hadn’t really spoken to Penny yet today, but he had a feeling that fire would move along with his words if he tried to attempt it.

 

No, perhaps he should not forgive her. After all, why should he after the way she had manipulated him and drug him along for the ride for the past few days? Why should he after what she had put him through? No, after that, she didn’t deserve any forgiveness.

 

He decided that he should go for a short walk. Try to clear his mind a little. He needed to stretch his legs some more anyway. He began to walk away from the building, walking next to the door way that led into the school itself. But he didn’t get far when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and looked.

 

He held his breath when he saw that it was Penny Sanchez. The girl was holding some papers to her chest, along with a notebook and a pen. She was staring at him in surprise, blinking her eyes a few times. The sight of her made Rudy’s heart twist.

 

He narrowed his eyes slowly. “Oh...it’s you.”

 

He couldn’t tell if Penny flinched out of hurt, or out of the realization that she wouldn’t be able to trick him anymore. Eh, probably that second one. He watched calmly and quietly as she shifted her eyes from side to side, looking as if she was struggling to find something to say. A part of Rudy just wanted to leave, but another part of him was curious to know just what she was going to try to tell him. So he waited.

 

He didn’t need to wait long for a reply.

 

“Oh, hi, Rudy. I was just coming out here to do some work and...” She paused for a moment, licking her lips nervously. “I-I didn’t expect you...see you here. I’m sorry if I’m intruding on anything.”

 

“Oh, don’t worry. You weren’t.” Rudy said, sound a little colder than he had intended.

 

“Well I...” Penny looked left and right. Her eyes were slightly widened, as if she were in some kind of hurry. Rudy couldn’t help but narrow his eyes, partially wondering just what she needed to hurry up for. “I should get going. I...” She glanced at him nervously, eyeing him up and down. Rudy thought he could detect a flash of regret in her eyes. This did little to calm him down. “I’ll...see you around.”

 

Rudy took a small step back and watched as Penny began to walk away. She was moving pretty slowly, and the way she carried herself, she looked almost...guilty. He couldn’t help but let out a bitter chuckle at this. Well good. She should feel guilty after what she had done.

 

Normally, he would have just left it at that. But the anger inside of him was overflowing by this point. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep it inside of him. He could feel his body shaking with emotion, energy dripping out of his finger tips.

 

He couldn’t hold it in any longer. He was trying so hard, but the harder he tried, the worse it got. And before he knew it, he spoke, the words flowing out of his mouth before he could even begin to stop them.

 

“So...you’re going to work on another stupid essay?”

 

At this, Penny froze in her tracks. Rudy didn’t need to see anything else to know that she had overhead him. She turned her head and she stared at him in shock, her mouth partially open, an hurt look on her face. Rudy simply narrowed his eyes, but made no attempt to correct himself.

 

After a few moments, Penny whispered softly, “...what..?”

 

“You heard me.” Rudy said softly, folding his arms against his chest. “Stupid.”

 

Penny stared at him in shock for a few moments, and then she narrowed her eyes slowly. “Rudy...you said my report was fantastic the other day.”

 

“Yeah, and you said my comics were great, but you were lying.” Rudy said coldly. “So I guess we’re even, right?”

 

Penny continued to frown at him. She tilted her head slightly. “So is that what you really thought of my report? Did you think it was stupid? Did you lie just to make me feel better?”

 

Rudy wasn’t really sure what he felt at this point. He couldn’t remember if he had liked the report or not. But in that moment, he didn’t really are what he thought of it. All he did care about was getting a little even with this girl, despite how immature he knew that it was. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he said, “..yes.”

 

There was a long moment silence between the two children. They didn’t say another word to each other for what felt like the longest time. All they did was glare at one another, the full impact of the words just spoken hovering over them. Slowly, both of them began to react to it.

 

Rudy’s eyes widened slightly as he realized the full meaning of his words. But he made no attempt to apologize. Why should he? Penny started the whole thing with her lies. What’s wrong with a little payback?

 

Penny, on the other hand, seemed to react, at least physically, more. She looked more hurt as the seconds went by, and Rudy could have sworn he could see tears in her eyes. The sight of them did cause some pang in his stomach, but it was faint and he ignored it, the desire for revenge being stronger.

 

Rudy took a step back when he noticed Penny forming a fist with her hand. He watched her warily, wondering just how far she was going to take this. He gritted his teeth, hunching his body as he prepared for a potential fight. All the while, Penny glared at him. Not in a hateful way, but instead disappointment and sadness and hurt. Even then, he still refused to try to apologize, especially considering what Penny had put him through.

 

“Rudy...” Penny’s voice sounded slightly darker than usual. This made Rudy cringe back a little, but he did not try to run from her. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you... But I swear, I never made fun of your comics...” Rudy just glared at her. “And even if I did, calling my hard work ‘stupid’ is uncalled for and out of line.”

 

“And calling my work stupid isn’t?” Rudy snarled at her, gritting his teeth. “Is your stupid, flashy homework really that much more important to you?!”

 

Penny took a step back. Her eyes widened for a split second. She then narrowed them and shook her head. “I never said that, Rudy. I just meant that...”

 

“Oh I get it. You think that your precious homework is worth something more than my comics. You think that you put more time and effort into your work while mine is just a bunch of scribble scrabble! Don’t you?!”

 

“No! Rudy, please calm down!” Penny backed up a little more. “Please just listen to me!”

 

But Rudy was not in the mood to listen to her. He had enough of listening to her lies. He had enough of listening to her try to counter or justify what she did. He was sick of it all. He just wanted her to pay. He just wanted her to feel the pain that he was going through right now. Simply mocking her work wasn’t enough. No.. He wanted to really upset her. He wanted to forced her to feel exactly what it’s like to be in his shoes.

 

Rudy realized that he should have just walked away after that. He should have just turned and gotten away from there when he realized that his anger levels were increasing tremendously the longer he stood there. He knew that no good was going to come from standing here, arguing with Penny.

 

Yet he didn’t move. He didn’t try to flee, despite his better judgment. He felt his blood heating up as anger started to overflow in his body. He couldn’t take it any more. He couldn’t hold back. He was barely able to before, but now, that ability was gone. He started to stomp towards Penny, his vision feeling as though it was turning shades of red.

 

In the heat of his emotion, he struck out towards Penny. His hands slapped against hers, causing her to drop her work. He glared at the papers, Penny staring down wide-eyed at the same time, before raising his foot and stomping on them, scraping them along the ground. This caused some of it to tear up.

 

“Rudy! Stop!” Penny cried.

 

Rudy didn’t listen. He was hardly even truly aware of what he was doing. All he could think of doing was ripping apart these papers just to hurt Penny. He could feel his more rational side begging him to stop it, but he paid that part of him no heed. He just continued on with his nasty work.

 

“Rudy, I said stop it!”

 

That was Penny’s final warning. When Rudy still refused to listen to her, she had taken action. Out of desperation, the girl had rammed against him. Rudy let out a grunt as he was pushed backwards. He slipped and lost his footing, and he felt a rush of pain as his shoulder collided with the concrete. He laid there for a few moments, groaning in pain. He lifted up his head and stared up at Penny.

 

Instead of hovering over her precious homework, lamenting about how it was now ruined, he was instead greeted by a completely different sight. Penny was staring down at him in horror, her hands placed towards her mouth. She had a strong, disbelieving look in her eyes, as if she had done something she didn’t intend to.

 

Rudy slowly climbed up to his feet, his narrowed eyes facing her. His mind swirled with thoughts as his body shook from the unexpected attack. He could feel a dull pain radiating from his shoulder, spreading slightly down his arm. He knew it was going to bruise, and it was all because of her.

 

“Oh my gosh...” Penny whispered softly, her hands still cupped around her mouth. “I-I didn’t mean to... I’m so..so sorry...Please...” She reached her hand out towards him before pausing. She curled her fingers inward, clenching her teeth, and pulled her hand back. “A-Are you okay...?”

 

Rudy seethed at this. How dare she ask such a question after what she did... How dare she attack him like that, and then try to feign innocense by asking him how he was. Those words echoed in his head, and the longer they did, the more angry he got. He could feel his body surging, ready for another charge.

 

He only stopped when he realized that several of the students had stopped playing and were looking over in this direction. At this point, his rational side started to have some affect on him. No, he didn’t want to be known as the kid who beat up another student, let alone a girl. Even if she entirely deserved it, it would be wrong, sworse than just ruining her homework. He didn’t want the whole student body to talk about him behind his back about how he had attacked a female student. No, he needed to be the bigger person here.

 

Through gritted teeth, he said, “I’m..fine...Penny...”

 

He stood there for several moments, glaring at Penny. The girl looked as if she was going to speak, but she kept her mouth shut. He guessed that she must detect the tension that was swelling up inside of him. He must admit, she did make a smart move by not speaking any further. He probably would have snapped at her if she tried.

 

Before Rudy could think of anything else to do, he was suddenly interrupted by a shout coming from behind him. His body jerked forward when Mr. Wilter had come onto the scene.

 

“Rudy Tabootie! Penny Sanchez! What is the meaning of this!”

 

“M-Mr. Wilter! We...uh...” Penny’s voice trailed off as she struggled to hold onto what remained of her papers.

 

Rudy turned and looked over at the man. His eyes bulged when he saw the man scowling at them both, his arms folded against his chest and his foot tapping, obviously waiting for one of them to answer. Rudy gulped and tugged at his shirt collar. He struggled to figure out what to say. “It’s nothing... We...”

 

“Nothing, huh? Then why were you on the ground?” Mr. Wilter asked, narrowing his eye suspiciously.

 

“I-I...we...” Rudy stammered.

 

“They were fighting Mr. Wilter!” Reggie shouted.

 

“Fighting?!” Mr. Wilter turned to Reggie, who was now rushing over to him. “Are you sure?!”

 

Reggie nodded his head. He sneered over at Rudy and Penny, who were staring back at him wide-eyed. “I saw the whole thing.” He turned back to Mr. Wilter. “Rudy hit Penny, and Penny shoved him down.”

 

“What?!” Rudy cried out. “I didn’t do that!”

 

“Don’t listen to him! He’s just trying to get out of trouble! Isn’t that right, Tabootie?” Reggie folded his arms against his chest as he smirked at the smaller boy. “You should know better than to try to lie.”

 

“Rudy, I would have expected better from a usually well behaved student like yourself!” Mr. Wilter scowled at the boy. It was clear that he was going to believe Reggie’s bogus story. And why wouldn’t he? The man just caught him on the ground, making Reggie’s story seem all that more believable. “I want you in the principal’s office immediately!”

 

Despite the odds against him, Rudy still tried to plead with the man. “But, Mr. Wilter...I didn’t strike Penny!”

 

“Not another word out of you!” Mr. Wilter’s glare deepened. He pointed a large finger towards the door. “Get to Principal Stringent’s office! Now!”

 

Rudy stared at Mr. Wilter before turning his gaze to Reggie. He could feel his stomach twist up in anger as he watched the boy’s smug expression. Reggie looked quite happy about what he had done. The sight of this made him sick. Reggie always liked getting him into trouble and would do so at every chance he had.

 

As much as he would have wanted to argue with the man and try to tell him that he really did not hit Penny, he knew there was little he could do to change the man’s mind. Mr. Wilter tended to be a very stubborn person. Once he got an idea into his head, it was almost impossible to change his mind. So his only option at this point was just to listen to the man. Casting Reggie one more glare, then looking at Mr. Wilter with a disbelieving glare, the boy began to trek towards the building.

 

“You too, Penny Sanchez.” Mr. Wilter said to Penny. His voice was calmer, but still no less firm or serious. There was a stronger tinge of disappointment in his voice as he referred to Penny.

 

Penny attempted to talk to the man. “Mr. Wilter, if you would just listen... You’d know that Rudy didn’t...”

 

Mr. Wilter cut her off before she could finish. “Enough of this! Just get going now, or you’ll be suspended!”

 

Rudy wasn’t sure if Mr. Wilter would really do that or not, or even if he could, but his words did have an affect on Penny. He could hear her rushing towards him, and soon she joined him at his side. The two children glanced at each other, sharing unidentifiable expressions, and they soon entered the school building.

 

As they headed down the hallway, Rudy began to realize something. Penny had...defended him. It wasn’t for very long. She wasn’t able to speak for long before Mr. Wilter silenced her. But in that short instance, she had been trying to tell the man that he did not hurt her. He would have thought, given how she had treated him before, that she would jump at this chance. The fact that she had tried to help him despite what he had said to her...

 

He felt a strange pang in his chest. What was this he was feeling? Was it..guilt? No, why should he feel guilty? Penny was the one who had started the whole shebang. It was her fault that this had happened. He shot her a sideways glare when she wasn’t paying attention to him, his mind filling with darkened thoughts.

 

But swimming among those was confusion and doubt. He couldn’t help but feel some level of gratefulness towards her that she hadn’t tried to go along with what Reggie had said. At least he could give her that much.

 

“Rudy...” Penny whispered softly. The boy merely gave a grunt in response. “I...really am sorry I pushed you down. And I really did enjoy your artwork. I was looking forward to seeing it. I’m being truthful here.”

 

Rudy snorted at this. “Yeah, sure. Whatever.” He picked up the pace. “Come on , let’s just get this over with.”

 

“...okay.” Penny said, her tone soft and defeated. She picked up the pace and the two disappeared down the hallway.

 

sss

 

“Rudy! I can’t believe this... How could you do such a thing?!” Mr. Tabootie growled in frustration. He clutched his head tightly, spluttering his words. “Were you even.. No, you weren’t thinking, were you?!”

 

Rudy lowered his head. He tried to keep his gaze averted as much as possible, but it was difficult to completely hide from the scowls of his parents. They had every right to be upset with him, after what had happened, though. Why wouldn’t they be? It wasn’t like he had ever gotten into a fight before.

 

Not like this.

 

He could feel his parents’ glare on him. Though he refused to look, he could tell they were still glaring at him, still angered and ashamed of what he had done. Rudy felt his heart twist. He had ever meant to disappiont them like this. But..if they had just been there...

 

“I just...don’t understand, Rudy.” His dad clutched his head tightly, a detail that Rudy noticed out of the corner of his gaze. “We raised you better than this.... How could you go against how we raised you...? You know you aren’t supposed to...”

 

Rudy clenched his teeth tightly. “I know, dad.. but...” He lifted up his head. He faced the, despite how difficult it was. “But you weren’t there! You didn’t hear what she had said! You didn’t see that really went on!”

 

“No buts, mister!” Mr. Tabootie said, pointing his finger at Rudy. “There was no excuse for what you’ve done!”

 

“How could you attack another student like that?” Mrs. Tabootie asked her son. There was a strong lace of disappointment in her voice, more so than what was present in her husband. “Especially a girl? Especially the same girl that you’ve been blossoming a friendship with?”

 

Rudy growled at this and turned his head away. “She’s no friend of mine...”

 

He didn’t bother looking over at his parents, not even when he heard their gasps of horror. He knew that they were going to want to talk about that, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t in the mood to speak about that incident. His heart still stung from the hurtful words that Penny spoke, from how she had been lying to him since day one.

 

His thoughts were quickly interrupted when his dad spoke up. “Regardless, Rudy, you shouldn’t have pushed her down like that. That was a horrible thing to do.” He shook his head in disappointment. “I never wanted to think that I raised a bully for a child.”

 

Rudy stared at his dad in horror at this, his eyes wide and mouth partially open. He couldn’t believe his dad would say such a thing. Out of anyone else, he might be angry, but he’d shrug it off .But for his own parents to think that of him... To have his parents think he was the one being a bully.. It was just too much to bear.

 

He could feel his body start to tremble with emotion. He tried to fight it back. He tried to keep himself from losing control. He couldn’t allow himself to break down. He had to fight off these emotions. He had to keep himself from snapping. But how long was he going to be able to hold out? How long would he able to keep himself at bay?

 

Oh why was this so hard? He clinched his teeth tighter, nearly biting into his own tongue. But he just could not drive away those horrible feelings in his head. Why couldn’t he just ignore them?

 

**Because you feel betrayed. Your own parents don’t believe you about Penny.**

 

_But they’re my parents. They have to believe me._

 

**They are the enemy. Look at them for what they truly are. The enemy.**

 

_No...they..._

 

**They weren’t there for you when it came to Toroh, not until it was too late. Now they aren’t being there for you when it comes to Penny. They are your parents. They should want to help you. But they’re not. Some parents they are, right?**

 

_I’m sure there’s a good reason. Maybe I..._

 

**Keep telling yourself that, kid. Go on. See how well that works out for you.**

 

Rudy shut his eyes tightly, feeling tears form in them He couldn’t fight them back any longer. The emotional toll of what has happened lately was too much. He lowered his head, put his hands against his face, and started to cry softly. At that point, he no longer cared if his parents saw him. He just let the tears flow, releasing the stress that had been building up for a while.

 

At this, he could feel his parents’ gaze soften up. He no longer could feel the tension of anger from the, nor nay uncomfortable auras. Just their gaze, and their gaze alone. When he looked up with one eye, he noticed that their expressions had indeed softened up, replaced with more sympathetic ones.

 

Rudy gave a soft jerk when he felt the thick, warm hand of his dad’s on the top of his head. The man stroked his head gently as he stared down at him, that sympathetic expression still on his face.

 

“Rudy... your mother and I...well we are upset with you. But you don’t have to cry. We still love you. We just...” Mr. Tabootie sighed softly. “We just wish to understand why you would...do such a thing... I mean, it’s not like you.”

 

Mrs. Tabootie moved in closer as well. She reached out and touched Rudy on his shoulder. “Please, Rudy. If something is bothering you...you can tell us. What happened between you and Penny that cause you to attack her?”

 

Rudy frowned at his parents. They still didn’t get it, did they? They still didn’t understand what really went on. They were still going by Reggie’s story, despite knowing what kind of person Reggie was. The thought sickened him, and only made his tear flow even worse. Through clenched teeth, he spoke, “I didn’t hurt Penny...”

 

“Come now, Rudy.” Mr. Tabootie narrowed his eyes. “You know better than to lie to your mother and I.”

 

“But I’m not lying!” Rudy snapped.

 

“That’s not what the principal told us.” Mrs. Tabootie frowned.

 

Rudy growled and slapped his parents’ hands away. They stared at him in shock. Rudy just glared back at them, ignoring their stares of shock or the fact that he was likely putting himself into deeper hot water. “She got her information from Reggie and he’s a big fat liar! You can ask Penny if you want! She’ll say the same thing as me!”

 

“Oh she did?” Mrs. Tabootie asked. She turned to her husband, letting him speak up next.

 

“If she stuck up for you, then she must not be so bad, am I right?” Mr. Tabootie asked, raising an eyebrow. Rudy blinked at this. His dad continued. “If she really was against you and didn’t care about you, then why would she insist that you were right?”

 

Rudy scrambled to find some kind of answer. “She just... She just didn’t want to get into trouble and...”

 

“Oh? Is that it? Or maybe she really did care.” Mrs. Tabootie cut him off.

 

Rudy shook his head. “No, I...”

 

“Rudy.” His dad said, stopping him before he could finish. “I think you should really think about what had happened. Really think about it hard. I think you have some reevaluating to do.”

 

Rudy watched as his parents left the room, leaving him alone in here. They shut the door behind them, and he heard their departing footsteps, but he knew that they would be watching the door to make sure he didn’t try to leave the house. He could crawl out of the window, but..no, that was too dangerous. So he just laid across the window sill, staring out it as he thought about what his parents had said.

 

True, Penny did stick up for him on the playground. She did try to tell Mr. Wilter that Reggie was lying about him pushing her. She could have easily used that to her advantage and exaggerate Reggie’s claims just to get back at him. But she didn’t... The fact that she didn’t did strike a chord with him. This hadn’t been like with Toroh. This was an experience he never really felt outside of ChalkZone. Someone genuinely sticking up for him.

 

Or was it genuine? How did he know that Penny actually cared about him? How did he know that she wasn’t trying to lure him into a false sense of security so she could break his heart again? How did he know that she wasn’t just trying to get herself out of trouble?

 

Wait, how could she do that by vouching for him? That didn’t really make a whole lot of sense...

 

He shook his head. No, he couldn’t let himself be clouded with confusion. That’s probably exactly what Penny would have wanted. To confuse him so that she could come him, ‘reassure him’, reforge their friendship, and try to go back to normal to cover her tracks. He could not allow something like that to happen. No... He had to maintain his resistance. He...

 

But what if he was wrong? What if Penny had indeed been genuine, and this whole time, he was just being paranoid? Maybe he should give her a chance to explain what happened. Maybe she really didn’t say those things about her artwork.

 

He needed to talk to Snap again about this. He needed to confide in him his doubts. Maybe he would have a better suggestion this time around. Of course he would. He was his best friend.

 

Rudy looked towards the door to make sure his parents weren’t coming back. He then turned to the chalkboard. He took in a deep breath and sighed. It was now or never. He went over towards there and drew another portal, just like before. He looked over again to make sure that his parents weren’t coming. Then he jumped through the portal and erased it.

 

sss

 

“You pushed Rudy?!” Mrs. Sanchez snapped at her daughter. “How could you do that? I didn’t raise you to be like that!”

 

Penny cringed under the frown of her mother. While her mother rarely got this upset, when she did, it was terrifying. She found herself unable to look away, the glare upon her freezing her in place. All she could do was turn her head slightly to one side, her expression contorting into shame.

 

Penny knew her mother would be upset by her actions. She had expected a harsh reaction. She just didn’t know it would be like this. The moment that she heard her mother slap her hand against the wall, she knew that she was in trouble. She didn’t attempt to argue back. She didn’t want to say or do anything to potentially make things worse. She had caused enough trouble.

 

“Just...what were you thinking?!” Mrs. Sanchez asked, her expression now intermixing with shock. “You...You never used to...”

 

Penny lowered her head, further expressing her shame. “I’m sorry, mama. I didn’t mean to push him. I..I even apologized and went to make sure that he was okay.”

 

Her mother slowly nodded her head at this. “Well that’s good you knew you did wrong and tried to correct it. But Penny, don’t think this will get you out of trouble.” Her eyes narrowed slowly. “You still hurt someone else and you will have to be punished for that.”

 

Penny nodded her head in understanding. She had expected to still be punished for what she did. She couldn’t see any feasible away out of that. She just could not imagine her mother go that easily.

 

Her heart clenched at the memory of what had happened. Yeah, Rudy had gone a bit too far when he stomped on her work, but she went even further when she shoved him. She...She didn’t know why she had done that. She had never meant to do something like that. She didn’t know how she could have so easily lost control of herself. She was normally good about keeping herself in check. How did this slip through?

 

Well it didn’t matter now how that happened. What did was that she did attack Rudy and now she was going to have to pay up for that. She would have to try to talk to Rudy as soon as she got he chance. She had to figure out a way to get him to sit down and listen to her. But how? The boy seemed so dead set on avoiding her. If only there was a way to...

 

Her eyes twinkled. There was something. She wasn’t sure if her mother would want to do this now, but the sooner this was taken care of, the better. She turned back to her mother, locking eyes with her.

 

“Hey can we go over to the Tabooties’? I want to speak to Rudy.” Penny said. She watched her mother raise an eyebrow. She continued, holding her hand up. “I want to apologize to him for earlier.”

 

“I thought you already did.” Her mother asked.

 

“Yeah, but I still feel really bad about it, and...” Penny bit her lip. The thoughts of the misunderstanding from before still plagued her mind. She shut her eyes, letting out a sigh. “There was a misunderstanding between us and I...I want to clear it up...” She looked back at her mother. “Please, mom... I want to make things right between us.”

 

Her mother stared at her for a few moments. Then, slowly, she gave a small smile and nodded her head. “Okay, Penita... We can go.” She reached over and stroked her hair. Penny felt a sense of comfort at this. “Just let me call Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie first. I need to get their okay before we can go. Okay?”

 

Penny nodded. “Yeah.” She watched as her mother walked over towards the phone, pick it up, and begin dialing the number. She waited with great anticipation as her mother started to talk to Rudy’s parents over the phone.

 

sss

 

“And that’s what happened today.” Rudy said, finishing up his story. He stared at his friend expectantly. “So..what do you think?”

 

Snap frowned at this, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Rudy said not a word and gave his friend all the time he needed to reply. He could tell his friend was going to think real hard about this. He just hoped that, whatever Snap said next, it was going to help him.

 

Though he wasn’t going to expect miracles. Snap might be his best friend and all, but that didn’t mean he could work magic and tell him some foolproof advice. But he could entrust his friend to tell him whatever he could.

 

After a few moments, Snap gave his reply. “Well...did you try talking to her?”

 

Rudy blinked his eyes a few times. He slowly shook his head. “I...no...” He lowered his gaze. “I was too angry at her to think of trying that. But Snap... How can I trust her, after what she did?” He looked back at Snap. He tried his best not to allow his anger get the better of him. “I mean, she...she betrayed me. She told Reggie my drawings sucked!” He gripped his head tightly. “I just don’t get how she could say something like that behind my back to Reggie, and then in the next breath, try to defend me. I just...”

 

“Maybe there’s more to what happened then you know.”

 

At this, Rudy stared over at Snap, his eyes furrowing with confusion. He didn’t know what his friend was talking about at first. What he had said... He tried to make sense of it. But he found himself unable to, and he just scratched his hand and held his hand up in perplexion.

 

Snap shook his head, looking a little disappointed that he didn’t get it the first try. Rudy frowned at this, but he didn’t make any attempt to scold his friend. They had other things on their minds right now. So he sat there and waited for Snap to continue. Snap didn’t continue for a few seconds, his hand rubbing against his chin as he seemed to be trying to find out exactly how to say the next lines.

 

Snap soon turned to him and said, “Well...you did say that this girl said she liked your drawings right?” Rudy nodded his head. “And that the two of you have been, for a lack of a better phrase, hitting it off?”

 

“Well yes, but Snap, she...”

 

“Tell me, Bucko, why would she pretend to like your drawings, only to hate them later? And so quickly?” Snap tilted his head to one side. “That seems a little fishy to me. But that’s not even it.” He pointed his hand towards Rudy. “You’d rather believe Reggie? Of all people?”

 

Rudy widened his eyes at this. “I..”

 

“Rudy, you know how Reggie is. I didn’t want tos ay anything earlier because I thought you’d figure it out on your own. But it would seem that you need some help with that.” Snap took a small step forward. His frown deepened slightly. “Reggie is always messing with you. He just wants to make you feel bad. So what I am asking is... What if this girl you’re talking about was telling the truth? What if she really does like your drawings and that whe sentence you heard was taken out of context?”

 

“Out of context? That was impossible! Snap, she really did say ‘Rudy’s drawings sucked’ or something along those lines.” Rudy said his mind swirling with confusing thoughts.

 

Snap raised an eyebrow at this. “Did she really say that? Or was what you heard just an incomplete sentence?”

 

“What...?” Rudy whispered softly, his mind contorting slightly at the confusing thoughts.

 

“Exactly what I said, Bucko. Maybe she really didn’t say what you thought. Maybe you should have given her a chance to explain herself. You might have taken this all way too far.” Snap said, staring intently at Rudy, a tinge of disappointment in his eyes. “I would think that you would act better than this.”

 

Rudy lowered his head. “I know...”

 

“Oh cheer up, Rudy. We all get angry sometimes. We all say things we don’t mean.” Snap walked over towards him. The warmth of his hand met his shoulder. Rudy stared down at Snap, his eyes slightly wide open. “And we all do things that we regret later. Just...try to talk to her. Try to hear her side of the story.”

 

Her side of the story... He recalled that she did try to talk to him about that. But he had pushed her away. He had been so convinced that she had deliberately hurt him, he didn’t stop to think that maybe he should try to speak to her. The thought of that made him lower his head in shame. Why didn’t he give Penny a chance? Why did he just push her away?

 

He knew why. He was paranoid. He was frightened of the idea of Penny turning out like Toroh. He couldn’t help but imagine her doing the same horrible stuff to him, then leaving him out to dry. He should have realized, on a deeper level, that Penny was not Toroh, and he needed to stop comparing her to him. He needed to remember that Toroh was locked up away and that his influence could only hurt him so long as he still allowed it to haunt him.

 

Rudy narrowed his eyes softly, realizing what he had to do. He couldn’t continue avoiding Penny like a coward. He couldn’t continue letting this go on, for the longer it went on, the harder it was going to be to fix things. He still couldn’t help but feel anger towards Penny. But Snap was right. He still needed to hear her side of what had happened.

 

But the question was...would she be willing to tell him now? She had tried to tell him before, and he just blew her off. He bit his lip at the memory. He couldn’t believe how immature he had been acting lately. He wasn’t sure if Penny would be so stoked to tell him after the way he had treated her before. And what if her story did check out? Would that mean that, all this time, he had been....

 

He shook the thought out of his head. Now wasn’t the time to be blaming himself or anyone for what happened. He needed to start making up for it now. Even if Penny still turned out to be guilty, that was no excuse for his rotten behavior lately. His parents were right to be disappointed in him. He felt the sting of guilt claw his way in his chest. If only he had controlled himself more...

 

Well that was going to change, here and now.

 

“Thanks for the talk, Snap.” Rudy said, smiling at his friend. “I really appreciate it.”

 

Snap smiled back at him. “It’s no problem, Bucko!” He raised his hand up and placed it on Rudy’s shoulders. “Now go find her and talk to her. I’m sure you two can get this thing sorted out.”

 

Rudy lowered his gaze. He still felt some level of reluctance, as he wasn’t sure how willing Penny would be to talk to him. But no more running. No more dismissing her. He’d done enough of that already. He smiled down at Snap and said, “I’m positive we will, too.”

 

“That’s the spirit!” Said Snap with a grin. “Let me know how it works out between you two, okay?”

 

Rudy nodded his head. “Yeah, I will. Don’t worry!”

 

Bidding farewell to his friend, Rudy turned and walked away. It was time he headed back home anyway. He had been gone for a while and, despite trying to reassure himself, he was still worried that, somehow, his parents would find him missing and... Yeah, he needed to get back, and fast.

 

Using his chalk to draw a simple form of transportation, a bicycle specifically, he got on it and he pedaled as fast as he could towards where his room was.

 

sss

 

Rudy stared at his parents in shock, his eyes wide. He found it hard to believe what they said at first. Due to the timing of it all... could he really blame himself? He had just gotten done talking to Snap regarding Penny, and he came back, thinking that he could rest for a moment and mentally prepare.

 

And then this happened. Not that it was bad or anything. He just didn’t expect it. Especially not this early.

 

When he had come back into his bedroom and erased the portal, his parents had come in only minutes after. A part of Rudy nearly panicked, feeling his gut burn at the realization of how close he was to having exposed ChalkZone to them. He had managed to keep his cool on the outside, however, preventing his parents from getting too suspicious.

 

He asked them what they were doing there, and his parents quickly explained the gist of what was going on. To Rudy’s shock, Mrs. Sanchez had apparently called them a little while ago. Penny was requesting to see him, and her mother was wondering if they could stop by today as soon as possible.

 

When Rudy heard this, he wasn’t sure what to think. It seemed almost like the perfect timing. He had wanted to talk to his parents about seeing Penny. Yet he came here, and Penny had already arranged to come see him. It was almost as if she had heard his mental desire to try to figure out what really happened, and thus she had done the work for him without him having to lift a finger. He couldn’t help but feel some level of gratitude towards her for this.

 

But there was a part of him that wondered if this was some kind of trick. He did feel some guilt at thinking this. He just couldn’t help himself. He did his best to push it back, smiling the best he could at his parents.

 

“So...she really said that, did she?” Rudy managed to say.

 

His mother nodded. “Yes. They’ll be over here soon.”

 

“I expect you to apologize for what you did to her, Rudy.” His father said, his eyes narrowed. “It isn’t just her who needs to explain some things.”

 

Rudy would have argued back with his dad. The temptation to tell him that he was not responsible for what happened to Penny, that he did not push her, was there, eating away at him. But he did not try to resist. It was pointless trying to argue with his father right now. So all he did was simply nod his head and say, “Yes, dad.”

 

His father smiled at this. “Good. I’m glad to see you’re accepting responsibility. I’m sure Penny will be glad to hear your apology.”

 

“And we’re sure you’ll feel better once Penny apologizes to you.” His mother said. “I hope that you two will be able to fix this before it gets too far broken. We would hate for you two to break off this friendship after it had such a wonderful start.”

 

Rudy nodded his head. “Yeah... I hope so, too...”

 

Rudy lowered his head slightly and flinched at the thought of such a thing happening. Despite his anger with Penny, he had to admit, the idea of losing her friendship, especially if it turned out to be a misunderstanding, did rip him apart on the inside. Even now, he would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy her company. She was such a nice girl and...

 

Or rather she seemed nice. He was still a bit up in the air about what she was really like. He wanted to believe that he had met the true Penny, and that the evil, manipulative version he thought of was just a result of his paranoida. But...what if he turned out to be right on that part? Could he handle rejection again? So soon?

 

**Of course you won’t. You’re just a weak fool. And you always will be.**

 

_Shut up! I’m done listening to you! It was because of you I..._

 

**Oh...because of me? Oh really? How can that be, when I am you?**

 

_You’re not me! You’re just some dark, twisted version..._

 

**...residing inside of you. Face it, Rudy. I am you, and you will never be able to get rid of me.**

 

_You monster!_

 

**Call me what you will. But sooner or later, you will see things my way. You’ll see. Penny will be revealed to be the hoax I told you she was, and then you will come crawling back to me like a whimpering puppy!**

 

_No! I won’t! I may have relied on you before, but all you did was pry my potential friends away from me! You tell me lies so you can twiddle me under your thumb! Well no longer!_

 

**You fool! How long do you think you can resist? You created me! I am you!**

 

_Well if I created you, then I can uncreate you. I can take you back. You will not control me anymore._

 

**Hmph! You can’t destroy me! Foolish little boy. You think I will go away that easily?!**

 

_I can still try!_

 

**We will see about that...**

 

“Rudy?” His mother’s voice cut through the air. “Are you okay? You were spacing out there.”

 

Rudy shook his head once, clearing his head of those thoughts. “I-I was...?”

 

His dad nodded his head. “You scared us, little man.”

 

Rudy lowered his head. He hadn’t meant to scare his parents like that. He often tried to be careful of when he had these internal battles with himself. But sometimes they’d go on for a while and he’d freeze in place. His parents usually didn’t catch him like this, but when they did, they’d be worried. He’d just tell them everything was all right, and tried to brush it off, but..how long could he keep going like this?

 

He stared up at his parents, noting their worried expressions. He took in a deep breath and sighed. No, he couldn’t keep this up any longer. They deserved to know what had been going on with him. They were his parents after all.

 

“Mom..dad...” Rudy said. He gritted his teeth for a second. “When did you say they would be here?”

 

His dad looked down at his phone. “Soon.” He looked down at Rudy. Some recognition flickered in his eyes. “There’s something you want to talk about, isn’t there?” Rudy nodded his head. “Okay...what did you want to tell us, son?”

 

“Whatever you need to tell us, we’ll listen.” His mother said reassuringly. “We are here for you.”

 

“Yeah, I know you are.” Rudy said with a smile.

 

For a few moments, he lowered his head, his mind bustling, trying to search for the right words to say. How was he going to explain something like this to them? He had never told anyone about this voice in his head. Even Snap didn’t know. He knew it was wrong to hide it from them. He wanted to change that here and now. But, it was still so hard...

 

After a few silent seconds, he recomposed himself. He inhaled slowly, and exhaled. He looked at his parents again, noting their expressions. Feeling shame rise up inside of him, he clenched his teeth and lowered his head. “There’s...something I’ve been meaning to talk to you two about. I’m just...sorry it took me so long to...”

 

“Don’t worry about it.” His mother gripped his shoulder gently. “The important thing is you are talking to us now.”

 

“Please...go on.” His father said. “What is it you want to tell us?”

 

“Well...you see...” Rudy then began to explain to his parents what he had been going through. “I’ve been...hearing this voice inside of my head.”

 

“Voice?” His father asked.

 

Rudy nodded his head. “It’s been talking to me, filling my head with doubt. It would tell me things about other people...especially Penny lately. It would try to get me to turn my back on others, that I’ll always be a lonely freak.”

 

Rudy looked up and he could see the looks of confusion on his parents’ faces. They were clearly uncertain about the prospect of ‘hearing voices in his head’. That wasn’t something one heard everyday, and it made Rudy sound a little crazy. He frowned slightly at this. He needed to make sure that he was clear on this. He did not want to have yet another misunderstanding.

 

“I’m arguing with myself, pretty much. I...I just can’t help it.. And this voice...” Rudy clutched his head tightly, digging his fingernails in. “It’s always clawing its way to the top. It’s always trying to get me. It won’t leave me alone...” He sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth. “Oh why won’t it leave me alone?!”

 

“Rudy...” His mother’s voice was soft, yet shaken. “It will be okay...”

 

“No! It won’t! Don’t you see?!” Rudy snapped, staring up at his parents. His eyes were wide and wild, his teeth bared. He breathed heavily, his fingers curling up into fists. “It’ll keep haunting me! It’ll keep taunting me! It’s not going to go away! No matter what I do! No matter what I try! It will be there!”

 

Rudy dropped down onto his knees. He ignored the worried cries from his parents. He could hear a pounding in his head, and he thought for certain he heard that voice’s laughter. He gritted his teeth tightly, clinching his eyes shut.

 

**What’s the matter, little boy? Scared?**

 

_No...I won’t listen to you anymore... Just go away..._

 

**But I will always be here with you. Forever.**

 

“No!” Rudy found himself exclaiming. “Why won’t you go away?!” He leaned back, clutching his head tightly. “Why?!”

 

“Rudy?!”

 

At this, Rudy finally seemed to snap out of it. He shook his head, and he became aware of his surroundings once more. He looked left and right, his panting rapid and shaky. He quickly remembered that he was still in his bedroom, back at home, with his parents...

 

At the thought of his parents, he looked up and he flinched at their expressions. They looked absolutely mortified by how he had reacted just now. Horror was etched on their faces, and he could see his mom holding her hand to her mouth, a few tears starting to form. His dad’s mouth had dropped open. He looked as if he wanted to speak to him, but the words just wouldn’t come out.

 

Rudy was silent for a few moments, his heart pounding against his chest. He could feel his body slowly relaxing, but the bitter feeling in his stomach was only increasing. He knew it was just going to keep on doing this, and slowly he started to feel sick. He did his best to shake it off.

 

“I-I’m sorry....” Rudy managed to say. “I-I didn’t mean to... I...” He looked out at his parents desperately. Neither of them were saying a word. They were cringing back away from him. The sight of this made his heart twist. Oh no..please...no...

 

**Even your own parents find you disgusting.**

 

_No they don’t. They.._

 

**Look at how they look upon you now. That’s the look of hatred, dear boy.**

 

_No..it’s not! Shut up! You’re making things worse!_

 

**Oh really? I’m not the one who...**

 

_I said shut up!_

 

Rudy managed to push the horrible thoughts away this time. He banished that voice in the back of his head, practically turning the virtual key and locking it. He wasn’t going to let that voice control him anymore. He was not going to let it continue to try to ruin his life.

 

He looked back at his parents, flinching at their horrified expressions. He slowly climbed up to his feet. He took a step forward, keeping his lead low in shame.

 

“I’m sorry you had to see that. I didn’t mean to outburst lie that.” Rudy said softly. “I-I’m so sorry...”

 

His parents didn’t say anything. They were just silent, staring at him in shock. Rudy gritted his teeth and turned away. He had blown it. He should have controlled himself more. And now he had just lost the trust of his parents. This was all his fault. If only he hadn’t been such an idiot, maybe he could have prevented this. Knowing that his parents probably didn’t want to speak to him anymore, he began to walk away from them and towards his bed.

 

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. He froze at this, his eyes widening. He turned his head and his eyes soon met his dad’s. Rudy stared at his dad in shock, licking his lips nervously.

 

“Dad, I...”

 

Before he could finish, his dad pulled him into a tight embrace. Rudy grunted in surprise, staring at his dad. He wanted to say something, but he remained silent in shock.

 

“It’s going to be okay, son.” His dad said softly. “We’ll get through this somehow.”

 

His mother soon came over, wearing a look of sympathy on her face. She wrapped her arms around both him and her husband, pulling them into a tight embrace. Rudy was soon smothered by the warmth of his parents. He found it difficult to move, but at the same time, he also felt comfortable and safe. He relaxed, not willing to try to fight back against his parents.

 

“It’ll be okay, Rudy. It will be all right.” His mother whispered softly.

 

Rudy shut his eyes and let out a sigh of contentment. He could feel his anxiety leave him through his fingertips. He leaned against his parents. For a few moments, everything was at peace. He felt no worries. No anxieties. Just his parents, hearing their hearts beating in rhythmn to himself. And this was how they stayed for what felt like several minutes.

 

Finally, after what felt like so long, his parents released their grip on him. Rudy felt a pang of disappointment at this, but nonetheless still smiled at them. He felt a warmth rise up inside of him, raising his spirits up more than they had been in a while.

 

Just then, the doorbell was rung. At this, they all raised their heads and looked towards the stairs. They didn’t need to say anything in that instance to know who it was.

 

Rudy watched as his father turned his head down towards him. “Well, shall we go greet them?”

 

“Yeah.” Rudy said. He licked his lips and gulped. He was still nervous, but still willing to do this. “Penny needs this.”

 

With that, the parents and their son went down the steps to greet the Sanchezes.

 

sss

 

It was rather quiet in the living room. A little too quiet. Rudy fidgeted his feet nervously, his eyes pointed downward. He had hardly moved from his spot during this time. The silence hung heavily, and he flinched as he felt it push down on his shoulders, reminding him of the fact that no one has spoken much since the two girls had arrived.

 

It wasn’t that they said nothing or anything. They had spoken a little, but it wasn’t too much. Mostly just greetings and what not. They had agreed to meet in here to talk further. So far, though, no one was speaking a word.

 

Rudy wanted to speak. He wanted to turn to Penny and open his mouth. But much to his frustration, it just wasn’t working. He narrowed his eyes, seething quietly through his teeth. Why was this so hard? They were supposed to be talking. What were they all waiting for? For him and Penny to kiss and make up? Weren’t they going to talk as well?

 

Well there was one benefit to this silence. At least he was able to think more about what he wanted to say. He could be better prepared. He stared over at Penny. He needed to make sure he had the right words to say when they would start speaking. He did not want to stammer. He did not want to slip this up, or say anything that might make things worse. He shivered at the memory of stomping on her homework. He gritted his teeth. Why had he done that?

 

Well at least it was going to be over soon. That was the benefit of this meeting. Hopefully any misunderstandings will be squared away. And whatever he did, he was not going to allow that voice of his to take him over like last time.

 

**Oh so you think...**

 

_Shut up!_

 

Rudy fought the urge to scream. He nearly did, his mouth partway open. Luckily he was able to keep it to himself. His parents were really worried about him, and he imagined they might want to take him to a psychiatrist sometime. It would seem that Toroh had a stronger grip on him than he thought...

 

“So...how about we start off with apologies?” Mr. Tabootie said, breaking the silence.

 

Rudy watched as his dad looked over at him expectantly. They stared at one another for several moments. Rudy narrowed his eyes softly. Though he realized just what his dad was implying, he remained silent. He was still not very happy about having to apologize about something that he himself did not do.

 

Penny wore a confused look on her face. Rudy guessed that she was surprised as well. A part of him felt some level of relief at this. She still wasn’t attempting to use this to her advantage, which she could very easily do. If his parents believe her so easily, then her mother would, and they’d all turn against him if he dare try to deny it.

 

“Rudy...?” His dad said sternly, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Don’t you have something to say...?”

 

“Huh?” Rudy looked over at his dad. He hadn’t realized he had been staring out into the distance a little too long. “Oh...right...” As much as he didn’t like the idea of apologizing for something he didn’t do, he had no choice. He was certain Penny wanted to hear it anyway.

 

He turned his attention towards her. She still looked confused, her head tilted in one direction. For a few moments, he and Penny just stared at one another, neither saying a word. He bit his lip, collecting his thoughts. He fought back the anger that he still felt for Penny, trying his best to control the emotions swelling up inside of him.

 

He let out a sigh. Well...here goes nothing.

 

“Penny, I’m...I’m sorry about...” He paused for a moment. Then he said, “...I’m sorry that I snapped at you at school. I-I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry about stomping on your homework like that. It wasn’t right of me.”

 

“It’s okay, Rudy. I understand. I should have left you alone. I realized you were getting riled up, but I..I didn’t listen to my gut instinct.” Penny said, a slight sorrowful tone to her voice. She fumbled her fingers together and said, “I’m sorry about pushing you. I din’t know what came over me.”

 

Rudy smiled softly and nodded his head. Then he frowned and turned his head away. “I’m sorry about pushing you, too.” There, he said it. What happens next depended on her.

 

Penny paused for a few moments. Then her soft voice spoke up. “What..?” Rudy looked over at her. He noted the confused look on her face, a slight frown, a further tilt. He said nothing and waited for her to continue. “What are you...talking about, Rudy?”

 

At this, Rudy’s parents looked at each other in confusion. Mrs. Sanchez looked confused as well, but not as much as his parents. Rudy guessed that it was because she may have been told by her daughter what really happened and believed her, unlike his parents who simply doubted him.

 

His mother was the first one to speak after a confusing silence. “What? I..I thought he...”

 

“Didn’t our boy push you down, little lady?” His dad chimed in before his mother could finish.

 

Penny frowned her face further. She rapidly shook her head. “No, Mr. Tabootie. I pushed him, but he did not push me.”

 

His parents once again exchanged glances, this time filled with more shock than confusion.

 

“But, the principal told us that...” His dad spoke up, holding his hand out in gesture. “Reggie has apparently seen you two fighting and...”

 

“He was lying.” This time, it was Mrs. Sanchez who spoke. Her voice was calm, yet stern. “According to Penny, Reggie had made up a lie about Rudy pushing my daughter just to get him into trouble. Penny had tried to defend him, but Mr. Wilter refused to believe her.” She lowered her gaze slightly and sighed. “I think it has to do with the stigma of boys vs. girls.” She shook her head.

 

One by one, Rudy’s parents looked down at him. He looked back, his soft glare returning. Of course, now they would believe him. He just...wished that they would have more faith him. It was hurtful that it took Penny’s mom in order to place some doubt in their heads of Reggie’s story.

 

Well, the important thing was that his parents seemed to now believe him. He hoped to move on from this soon. They had come this far. Now he and Penny just needed to talk face to face. There were some things he wanted to tell her, so she could better understand why he reacted the way he did to her. She had every right to know.

 

“Rudy...” His mom said. He turned and looked up at her. “We’re...We’re sorry we didn’t believe you...”

 

“Yeah.. We should have listened to you. We’re sorry.” His dad said. He reached towards Rudy, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’re so sorry.”

 

Rudy stared down at the ground. Unable to hold his emotions back completely, he gritted his teeth and grumbled. “Of course it takes Penny to convince you...”

 

His dad removed his hand as he and his wife widened their eyes. “What was that?”

 

Rudy wanted to answer. He wanted to tell him exactly what he felt. He wanted to tell him how hurt he was by this. But in the end, he knew it was pointless. His parents were remorseful and he was certain that they’d be more careful next time. He took in a deep breath and sighed. “Nothing, dad.” He said, his voice soft. “It’s not important.” He paused for a moment, then he gave his parents a smile. “I forgive you.”

 

He didn’t see too much of his parents’ return smile as he looked over at Penny. He felt they had delayed things long enough. He still wanted to speak to her. But alone, not out here with their parents. Besides, he was certain that his parents had some things to talk to Mrs. Sanchez about anyway.

 

“Hey, mom? Dad?” Rudy turned to look back at his parents. “Can Penny and I go up to my room now? I want to speak to her...” He looked back at Penny. “Privately.” Penny widened her eyes in confusion at this, but said nothing and turned to her mother.

 

“I don’t see why not.” Mr. Tabootie said. “I think everything has been cleared up.

 

Mrs. Tabootie turned to Mrs. Sanchez. “Is that okay with you?”

 

Mrs. Sanchez nodded her head. “Certainly. I’m sure they both want to put this behind them.” She stared over at Rudy. “Am I right?”

 

Rudy nodded his head. “Yes, ma’am.”

 

“Okay then...” Mrs. Sanchez made a gesture with her hand. “Run along, you two. But Penny...” She looked at her daughter as she had begun to get up from her seat. “Remember we have to be back home soon. We aren’t staying here too long.”

 

Penny nodded. “Okay, mama. I won’t be long!”

 

Rudy waited by the bottom step for the girl. She approached him quickly, moving faster than he had expected her to. He stared at her for a few seconds, clenching his teeth tightly. The awkward silence between them lasted for a few moments. a few extra longer than he would have like.

 

Clearing his throat, he said, “Well, are you ready?”

 

Penny nodded her head. There was a bit of hesitation in it, and it made Rudy feel guilty. He hoped he hadn’t done anything to destroy whatever trust she had in him. He would be just as bad as..him...if that were the case. Hopefully, he could get it all straightened out.

 

Without saying another word, the two children headed up the stairs. They moved at a steady pace, the silence only swallowed out by the drumming of their footsteps. When they reached the top, they immediately went over towards the open door, which was his room. They entered and he shut the door behind him.

 

A part of him wanted to tell her about ChalkZone right away. He wanted to just open up a portal and take her through there. But he knew he had to wait on that. He couldn’t rush this. He will put that on hold for now.

 

Besides, he had something more important to talk to her about. It was time that she knew a bit more about his past. He was not using it as an excuse for his behavior. It was simply to help her better understand him. After all, understanding brings peace, does it not?

 

Penny took notice of his expression. “So what is it you wanted to talk to me about, Rudy?”

 

Rudy looked over at her. He bit his lip nervously. He wasn’t entirely sure exactly how to tell her this. It was a hard thing to talk about. But...it still had to be done. He gulped nervously, trying to gain as much composure as he could. “Penny...about what I said before.. About comparing you to Toroh...”

 

At this, Penny’s face grew sympathetic. “Rudy, it’s okay. I understand. My mom mentioned him earlier.”

 

Rudy stared at her. “So you know about him?”

 

Penny nodded her head. “Well..a little... My mom did say he was...quite bad.” She bit her lip, turning her gaze to the side. “But she did not tell me exactly what he had done.”

 

Rudy nodded his head numbly at that. Somehow, he was not surprised. It wasn’t exactly the nicest story in the world. It certainly was not something he’d expect a parent to tell their little child so easily. He himself felt nervous about telling Penny this. But he just...he just couldn’t let this go on forever. “Yeah...he was horrible.” He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and he could see Penny staring at him sympathetically.

 

“Do you..mind telling me what happened..?” Penny asked gently. “I mean...you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I understand if you...”

 

“I’ll tell you.” Rudy gently pushed her hand away and took a step back. He interlocked his fingers together, turning his head down. “It’s..not an easy story for me to tell. But I will tell you.”

 

Penny stared at him silently, waiting for him to continue. Rudy kept silent for a few moments, his mind rushing with the memories of what had happened. He felt a cold shiver crawl up his spine. Even after all this time, it still hurt to think about what that guy did. He felt a tightness around his chest, and he clutched at it, shutting his eyes tightly for a few seconds. He then reopened them and looked back at Penny. She stared at him worriedly and expectantly.

 

Despite how hard it was going to be talking about...him, he was still willing to do it. It was certainly going to feel a lot better talking to Penny about this, no longer hiding it from her. He did his best to relax his speeding mind, reminding himself that Toroh could no longer hurt him. The memories would hurt only for as long as he continued to allow them.

 

Then he began to speak.

 

“It all happened a few years ago...”

 

sss

 

Penny was silent as Rudy continued speaking. Her eyes were wide as the boy relayed the information to her. She couldn’t stop the gasps coming from her mouth. She couldn’t stop her heart from stinging and twisting at all this stuff she was hearing. She gritted her teeth, struggling not to let her tears show. She knew that what Rudy was going to tell her was bad.

 

But she never thought it was going to be this bad...

 

She could tell, from the look on his face, how much this hurt him to talk about. She could see him struggling with each word. A few times, Rudy choked up, his lower lip quivering as he recalled all those horrible memories.

 

Penny couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. After all, it was her curiosity that had prompted him to speak up about this. Perhaps she should have heeded her mother’s statement and just waited. Now hearing how horrible this boy was, she understood why her mother would have rather she wait.

 

Poor Rudy... no wonder he had been such a mess earlier. How could she blame him for reacting the way he did? It still didn’t make it okay, of course, but now he understood why he did that. She couldn’t believe something that awful had happened to someone like him... What did Rudy do to deserve what that wretched boy had done to him? She formed a small fist, shaking it. If only he was there... Then she could give him a piece of her mind...

 

“And that pretty much sums it up.” Rudy said, finally concluding his story.

 

Penny shut her eyes and turned away. “Oh man...that was awful, Rudy. I..I can’t believe that he would try to...”

 

Rudy nodded his head slowly. “I was in disbelief myself when it happened. I..I refused to think that he’d do such a thing, but..but I was wrong about him.” He closed his eyes. A few tears started to escape from him. “I was such a fool. I shouldn’t have trusted him. I should have...”

 

Penny put her arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer to her. “Listen, Rudy. What happened wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know any better. Toroh was the one who decided to do those things to you.” She looked into his eyes, looking at how watery they were. She reached over and traced a finger underneath them, catching his tears. “It was his choice, not yours. If he felt the need to do that and ruin your friendship with him, then that was his problem, his loss. You’re a good kid, Rudy. You don’t deserve someone like that.”

 

Rudy sniffled at this and lowered his head. Penny bit her lip at this. Despite her words, Rudy didn’t appear able to stop crying. Recalling those horrible memories must have broken something inside of him. She pulled him closer, wrapping her arms completely around him. She placed her head against his shoulder, rubbing the side of his cheek with her own.

 

“Shh... It will be okay, Rudy. I promise.” Penny whispered softly. She began to rub Rudy’s back with one hand, trying to sooth the shaken boy. “I won’t ever be like that. I won’t hurt you like Toroh did. I promise.” She felt his body start to shake harder, his cries getting louder. This prompted her to hold him tightly. “Shhh... It’s all right, Rudy.”

 

Penny’s voice trailed off as she continued to hold onto the boy. She felt the warmth of his trembling body against her. Hearing his cries made her heart twist harder. She wished there was something she could say to take away the pain he was feeling. But she knew that this was something that he would ultimately have to conquer on his own. She could help him however she could, but she could only do so much. Emotional pain often hurt the hardest and the longest.

 

As she continued to cradle Rudy against her, her mind went off elsewhere, thinking about the horrid story that he had told her. She could still feel burning anger rise up inside of her. Toroh wasn’t even there, she had never met him, and yet he still managed to gain her hate. She had never hated anyone like this before. Not even Reggie was this bad, and that was saying something, based off what she had seen. Rudy’s words echoed in her head, refusing to leave her alone. The only good thing about what Rudy told her was that Toroh was taken care of and could no longer harm him. Good riddance to bad rubbish, she’d say.

 

She still found it hard to believe all that Toroh had gotten away with Rudy before the boy finally couldn’t take it any longer and told someone. Rudy relayed to her all that had happened, each one sounding equally dreadful. It would be hard for her to pick out just which one she felt was the worst one, at which point Toroh had truly crossed the line.

 

But if she had to choose, it would be how Toroh had attempted to drag Rudy into an illegal drug transport. This had actually been the last thing Toroh had attempted before Rudy finally told someone about it. Rudy hadn’t given her too much detail, but she heard enough to have an idea of what happened.

 

For a while, Toroh had Rudy under his fingertips, practically having ‘trained him to bark like a dog’, as Toroh would say. He had regarded Rudy as his property and felt he was free to do whatever he wanted with him. Rudy had said nothing until that point and let Toroh keep doing those things because of the strangle hold he had on him.

 

But this time, he had broke because Toroh had tried to take him to a shady place where his boss, some drug dealer, had been waiting. This evil man had been recruiting little kids to do drug trafficking for him. Quite a clever idea. After all, who would expect children? The man had wanted Toroh to drug Rudy so that a bag of cocaine could be placed inside of him. Rudy would then be expected to reach a certain designated location in a short amount of time, via getting his parents to go and then losing him for the private retrieval of the bag.

 

Despite knowing how that plan would have fallen apart very quickly due to some very notable issues, Penny couldn’t help but be horrified by the idea of anyone trying that. She had heard of it happening to animals. But the idea of it being done to a little child... She shuddered at the thought.

 

Well at least it was over now. Rudy had managed to escape from them and told his parents. They weren’t able to stop that horrible man, but at least Toroh and some other twisted children working for him were taken and put where they belonged. Toroh couldn’t try to use Rudy like that anymore. He couldn’t pretend to befriend someone, only to use them later on, ever again. Rudy was safe.

 

After a few more minutes of listening to his cries, Penny pulled back from him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and stared at him. She smiled as she looked into his eyes. He sniffled a few times, shaking, his head lowering. Penny cupped his chin and gently lifted it up, making him look at her.

 

“Listen to me, Rudy. I would never be like Toroh. I would never do something like that to you. I...I care too much about you to do something like that.” Penny said.

 

Rudy’s eyes widened slightly at this. He sniffled and wiped away his tears. “Y-You do...?”

 

Penny nodded her head, smiling. “Yes, of course I do. I think you’re a wonderful guy. I would love to get to know you more...that is, if you let me.” She pulled her hand up from his chin to stroke his hair. “I would never, ever hurt you.” She leaned in closer. “I promise.”

 

Rudy stared at her for a few moments. Then, slowly, he smiled. “That...that would be great... I wanted to get to know you more, too. I’m just...” He lowered his head. “I’m sorry that I nearly ruined our...”

 

“It’s okay, Rudy. It wasn’t your fault. Shhh...” Penny whispered softly. She continued to stroke his hair. “You’re still my friend. I won’t let something as silly as a misunderstanding stop that.”

 

Rudy’s eyes bulged at this. He stared at her as if she had said something foreign to him. She blinked at him, wondering what he was so confused about.

 

“Rudy...?”

 

Rudy gulped. Then he said softly, “You...you consider me a...friend...?”

 

Penny widened her eyes at this for a split second. Then she slowly relaxed them, her open mouth spreading into a smile. “Why, of course I do, Rudy. Why wouldn’t I?”

 

Rudy didn’t answer that for a few moments. His shocked expression never left him in all that time. Then, after a little longer of silence, his face started to change. It contorted a little, and she could see more tears flowing down his face. Penny bit her lip, feeling her heart twist. Had she said something to upset him?

 

Suddenly, before she coulds ay anything, the boy wrapped his arms completely around her, pulling her in closely. Penny’s eyes bulged at this, and she let out a grunt of surprise. She turned her eyes to face Rudy the best she could. It was hard to see his face from this angle, but she could feel his body shaking, his sniffling echoing in the air. She rubbed his back gently, trying to calm him down.

 

“Rudy..did I...?” Penny managed to whisper before Rudy cut her off.

 

“No one...no one has ever called me that before...” Rudy choked out. He took in a shuddering breath. “I-I don’t know what to say...”

 

Penny felt her heart break at this. Had Rudy really been this friendless? Was he really this desperate to have someone accept him for who he was, to try to be friends with him on an honest scale? Just how often had he been bullied? How often had he had his trust broken when he tried to make friends? Oh poor, poor Rudy...

 

Feeling tears of her own start to stream down, she held the boy against her and cried softly with him. They stayed like this for several moments. Penny wasn’t sure how long they had been like this. Nonetheless, she still refused to let go of Rudy. She continued to embrace him, trying her best to calm him down.

 

Then, after what felt like forever, they parted away. They stared at each other in the eyes, each one filling up with emotion. They held onto each other’s hands, and slowly, they began to smile. In that moment, Penny knew that the first step towards building trust had begun. And she would do whatever she could to make sure that this trust wasn’t broken.

 

She was not going to be like Toroh. She will bet her life on that.

 

sss

 

“I do still feel bad about..” Joe found it hard for him to continue the sentence. He clenched his teeth and lowered his head. “Well, you know...”

 

He would have expected Inez to tell him off. He had expected her to snap at him and tell him that he should have known better. He waited for it, shutting his eyes tightly and not doing anything to interrupt her. If there was a perfect time for the woman to blow up at him, now would be it.

 

But nothing came. Not even a snarl of disapproval. Not even a slap on the wrist. Just silence. The man opened his eyes and he looked over at Inez. Despite what he had been expecting, she wasn’t glaring at him or baring her teeth at him. She was giving him something of a...sympathetic look. This caused him to widen his eyes slightly in confusion. Why wasn’t she ripping him out?

 

“We all make mistakes, Mr. Tabootie. We just have to learn to accept them.” Inez said calmly. She leaned back, continuing to look at him and his wife sympathetically. “I don’t blame you for thinking that Rudy really did hit my daughter. Without being there to see it, how could you have known?”

 

“Rudy never lies to us, though. We should have kept that in mind.” Millie spoke softly, her voice nearly a whisper. “He always tells us how it is. If we had just remembered that, we would have known that he was speaking the truth.”

 

Joe looked at his wife sadly. He couldn’t blame her for being so sad and upset about this. Though Rudy seems to have forgiven them, that didn’t change the fact that they still nearly punished him for something that wasn’t his fault. Joe wasn’t sure how he would have dealt with it, if they did punish him in spite of him being innocent.

 

Although it didn’t happen, and never would now that they knew, it still didn’t do much to help him feel better. He and his wife were always so careful about when and how they disciplined Rudy. The poor kid was still mentally scarred from his experiences with Toroh, and he and Millie feared that if they were too careless, they might accidentally triffer flashback scenes with the boy. They couldn’t do that to their son.

 

“Well the important thing is that you now know.” Inez said, cutting them out of their thoughts. “Just remember that.”

 

Joe closed his eyes. “I wonder if he would forgive us.”

 

“I’m sure he would.” Answered Inez. “I did hear him say that he forgave you.”

 

“He might have just said that to help us feel better.” Joe said softly, turning his head away in shame. “He has every right to be upset with us.” He looked sadly at his wife, who returned his glance. He turned back to Mrs. Sanchez. “I mean...what kind of parents are we...? If we had to have...”

 

“Enough already, you two!” Inez cut him off. She narrowed her eyes slightly at the two of them. This was more what Joe expected her to look like when she glanced at them. But it was still too soft, too gentle, compared what his imagination had conjured up. “Really now.” She put her hands on her hips. “Aren’t you two being paranoid?” She moved her hand out towards him. “I thought you would have been more trusting of your son.”

 

“W-We are!” Millie shouted.

 

“Then why are you disbelieving of him when he said he forgave you?” Inez narrowed her eyes a little further. “It doesn’t exactly scream ‘parental trust’ if you two are thinking he is going to turn against you in a moment’s notice.”

 

Joe turned his head down. He felt shame crawling up through his stomach, burning it from the inside out. Inez had brought up a very good point. They had made a promise to try to listen to Rudy more, but then they immediately broke that promise by doubting his forgiveness in them. He clenched his teeth tightly, wanting to punch himself in the gut.

 

“We’re sorry. We just...” Joe struggled to find the words to say. “I guess it just felt like he was....”

 

“Letting you off easy?”

 

“Yeah.” Joe nodded his head. “That.”

 

“Try not to worry so much.” Inez said. “You two are still great parents and Rudy loves you both. I don’t think one little mishap is going to make him suddenly hate you.” She smiled gently at them. “Please, don’t bring yourselves down like that. Rudy wouldn’t want you to do that, now would he?”

 

“No..no he would not.” Millie shook her head. “We would worry him sick if we did something like that.”

 

Inez nodded her head slowly. “He’s a smart kid. He’d be able to pick up on the self loathing and hate. And considering what happened to him before....” The woman paused. She stared at them, all of them exchanging thoughts regarding around that monster of a child. She then continued, “I don’t think he needs another reason to be on edge.”

 

Joe shut his eyes softly. “I...” But before he could continue, there was a loud crash. “What...?!” He tilted his head back and looked at the women, who looked just as startled by the sound as he was. “What happened?!”

 

“I don’t know...” Millie said, her eyes wide in shock.

 

“It came from upstairs!” Declared Inez. Her body became tense and rigid. She stared over at the two adults, her eyes practically glowing of horror and fear. “Y-You don’t think that...”

 

For a few seconds, the adults stared at one another, cold chills going up their spines. None of them wanted to believe that something terrible was going on upstairs. None of them wanted to think that their children could have been fighting...or worse...

 

But as the seconds passed, the dread just kept rising up inside of them. They couldn’t push it back. It kept twisting at their stomachs, forcing their minds to fill with rapid-moving thoughts of all kinds of things that could be happening right now. Their bodies gave a quick shake as the horrible thoughts and fears worsened. Without wasting more time, the adults immediately bolted up the steps.

 

As they got closer, the loud sounds appeared to get louder, almost as if they were being made with more force. This caused them all to start panicking more. Although anger at one another was at the back of their minds, they hardly paid attention. Accusations would not get them far. They focused all their energy on getting up here and trying to stop whatever fight was going on between Rudy and Penny.

 

Soon they got to the door. They paused, looking at one another. Joe could feel his heart skip a beat as he heard another thud. He couldn’t imagine what must be going on beyond the door. Was Penny attacking his son? Did Rudy snap and strike her? Neither made much sense to him, and his head ached as he struggled to figure out just what could be going on. There..there had to be a logical explaination, right?

 

Well, there was only one way to find out.

 

Making a few quick gestures to the two women, and, without giving the children any kind of warning, he pushed the door clean open, nearly knocking it from its hinges.

 

“Is everything okay in here?!” Joe found himself spouting as he and the others arrived in the room. They immediately froze and stared in shock. But not for the reason he thought they would.

 

Rudy and Penny were indeed locked together. But they weren’t fighting at all. They were....playing.

 

The two children were play wrestling with each other. The thuds they were hearing were simply caused by them accidentally hitting something or just pinning one another on the ground. They seemed to take turns with who was on top, and they playfully pushed against each other, their laughter filling the room. The children were so caught up in their play, they didn’t even notice the adults that came rushing in.

 

Joe felt many emotions and thoughts rush through his skull as he watched his son playing with Inez’s daughter. It was a spectacle he thought that he would never see. His son having fun with someone else who wasn’t a relative or just him or his wife. No, this time, he was having fun with someone his own age. He..he never thought he’d see the day.

 

Soon the wrestling appeared to stop. The two children collapsed, Penny laying across Rudy’s back. They looked at each other and just laughed, as if this was the most fun they ever had. It was so adorable, so wonderful to look at, Joe couldn’t help but feel a tear come to his eye.

 

He looked over at the women. Inez was smiling, her fingers interlocked together. Looking over at Millie, he noticed that her face looked wracked with emotion as well, more so than with him. He noticed that she was having a harder time keeping the tears from flowing and he reached over and touched her shoulder. She looked over at him, and they locked eyes with each other. They both shared the same message through their eyes.

 

Rudy had finally found a real friend.

 

sss

 

Rudy laid on his back in the bed, staring up at the ceiling. It was very much like how he was sitting before, back when he wondered if Penny would ever be his friend. This time, however, he had a smile on his face, and his insides felt warm with positive emotion.

 

It had been about a week since he had that meeting with Penny, since he had confessed to her what happened with Toroh. Since then, things had been in an uphill climb. He was amazed at how much things had improved between them, and slowly, he could feel his doubts fade away as he and Penny continued their interactions, mostly during school, or a few times when they could visit one another.

 

Penny was a lot of fun. She wasn’t like those stereotypical ‘geeks’ that he would see in cartoons. She might be intelligent and know some words and other things that confused him, but she was still capable of having fun and just enjoy life. And she certainly wasn’t like some people he had the misfortune to meet. She didn’t insult his art nor his intelligence. In fact, she believed in him enough that she trusted him with helping her with her experiments. No one had ever been that believing of him before, except for his parents.

 

They managed to ignore Reggie for the most part. He still tried to stir up trouble, and he even pulled Rudy into a fight once in a while. They were thankfully short-lived and either his dad or Mr. Wilter would have a stern talking to him. Rudy was still nervous around the larger boy, but with Penny with him, he did feel safer. She’d always help him feel better afterwards and distract him with something they both like.

 

His parents were quite happy for him. He could only imagine how they must feel knowing that he finally had someone his own age to talk to and hang out with. Often when he came home, they would ask him how his day was and he would tell them about what he and Penny did. This did eventually slow down, but whenever he was asked, he was more than happy to inform them of the day’s events.

 

He narrowed his eyes softly. His parents were still concerned for him after that outburst. They suggested that he see a psychiatrist soon. He did try to resist and did his best to convince his parents that he was fine and that it was just a one off thing. But they didn’t believe him, especially after he had already confessed to have been hearing this voice for a while now. So as much as he hated it, he had to see a psychiatrist.

 

It didn’t end up so bad, though. He had been worried he would be forced to relinquish the existence of ChalkZone. But that never happened, nor did anything come up that would force it. The session with the psychiatrist didn’t last as long as he imagined it would, and after going there a couple of times, the psychiatrist was able to prescribe some medications for him to take as he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

 

Rudy wrinkled his nose in disgust at that. He didn’t want to believe he had something like that, and he just thought the psychiatrist was full of chalk dust. He probably just wanted his parents’ money or something. He knew that some psychiatrists were pretty shady.

 

Nonetheless, his parents sitll got the medicine and wanted him to take it once a day, as the psychiatrist prescribed. The idea made Rudy feel uncomfortable and he wasn’t sure how this medicine would affect him. So he vowed not to take it. He simply would crush a pill and flush it down the toilet when he was told to take some. That way, if his parents looked at the bottle and counted the pills, they would see the numbers decreasing over time. This would prevent them from becoming suspicious.

 

He refocused his attention on Penny, trying to think of what he could do with her the next day at school. The usual stuff? Perhaps. He always had more comics he could show her, and she always had some experiments she’d want his help with.

 

But...he wanted something different this time. Something that would further establish his trust in her. Something like...

 

Going to ChalkZone...

 

At this, he froze. He remembered talking to Snap about what had happened. How he had made it up with Penny, how he had learned that she was actually defending his artwork against Reggie’s insults, how he had just misheard and got upset over nothing. Snap had been glad that everything was straightened out. But the one thing that he didn’t tell Snap about was his considering of bringing Penny into ChalkZone.

 

He knew Snap would be quite upset with him. It was such a huge risk. No matter how much he trusted Penny, there was still no telling what would happen if he were to just drag her into an alternate dimension one day. It could go really well, or it could be the worst mistake of his life. He bit his lip, pressing his teeth against his flesh. Oh what was he going to do...?

 

He thought about talking to Snap about it. But he already knew what his friend was going to tell him. He would hit him on the head and try to knock sense into him and remind Rudy that he isn’t supposed to bring anyone else into ChalkZone. He also made sure to remind Rudy of Cyclops, and how he had been furious with the presence of just one creator. Who knows how he might react if another one showed up.

 

But still... It would be nice if he had a confidant in the Real World. Someone here whom he could trust and talk to regarding ChalkZone. Someone with whom he could share its secrets with. He had always wanted to show someone ChalkZone, and how beautiful and amazing it was. He had always held back out of fear. But maybe, just maybe, he would finally be able to reveal its existence to someone whom he could trust.

 

He still needed to think about this, though. He still needed to go over the options and evidence and try to figure out if Penny really was worthy of knowing about ChalkZone, and if he could really trust her with its secrecy. He didn’t want to make another huge mistake like he did with Toroh. At least that boy never learned about ChalkZone. If he did... Rudy shuddered to think of what might have happened.

 

But perhaps...it wouldn’t be that bad. It would be nice to finally have someone around to talk to about it. And he would feel so much better with Penny knowing about ChalkZone. It was so hard to explain some things to her regarding his comics without telling her the truth. He did almost slip up a few times, and though he was lucky to have caught himself, each time it felt like he was getting closer and closer to accidentally spilling the beans. Perhaps it was his excitement at finally having a friend. Regardless, he knew he needed to control himself more.

 

He took in a deep breath and sighed. He turned himself onto his side, pressing his head against his pillow. It was going to be a touch decision to make. A part of him really wanted to do ths. But other kept reminding him of what could happen if he made the wrong choice.

 

Well tomorrow was a brand new day. Maybe something would happen the next day that would help him make his decision easier. Maybe, just maybe, he would be given a sign that would confirm for him what he should do. But in the end, whatever decision he made, he hoped it would be the right one. He decided it was best to sleep on it. He might be able to better think of a solution tomorrow.

 

He slowly closed his eyes and went to sleep.

 

sss

 

Rudy felt like an idiot. He had completely forgotten about the Science Fair today. He wished he had paid better attention in class. If he did, he would have known that the school set this up in place of recess. So instead of going outside, the students were expected to work on their projects. Only after they were done could they go outside.

 

Rudy did his best to relax himself. Okay, this wasn’t a big deal. He could just stand around wait. Penny did offer to work with him on a team so he didn’t have to fear not having a project. It would be done in no time, with her intelligence and all.

 

Instead, it took a lot longer. As time passed, as Rudy scanned the room, he saw more and more people leave to go outside, their projects already finished. He gritted his teeth for a second and looked back at Penny. He wasn’t sure what was taking so long. This should be an easy thing to pull off, right? How long was this supposed to take anyway? He felt his gut sting in disappointment. At this rate, they wouldn’t be able to get into ChalkZone today, if he ever decided to do that. Well...there was always tomorrow.

 

Rudy remained a few feet behind Penny, watching her as she mumbled to herself and scribbled some seemingly random nonsense on the board. He couldn’t make heads or tails of it, and though he could hear her speaking, he didn’t pay much attention. It was giving him a headache and most of her she said was going right over his head. She might as well been speaking gibberish to her.

 

But he didn’t dare interrupt her. She was always patient with him whenever he got crazy over a new idea he had for his comics. He should return the favor and at least try to act interested in what she was doing.

 

Penny was going on about something called perpetual motion. Rudy had heard about it once before, but he didn’t really understand what it was, or what the big deal was. He had only heard it was impossible. He wasn’t sure why Penny was even attempting it. But... well it did seem to make her happy and she was really interested in it. If she wanted to do this, then she can be his guest.

 

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Penny appeared to be done. She stopped writing, the chalkboard now filled with all kinds of what might as well been white scribbles to him. She turned her head and looked over at him, a smile spreading across her face. “And that’s what makes perpetual motion possible!”

 

Rudy stared at the board almost dumbfounded. He then took a few steps towards Penny. “Penny...” He started to push the chalkboard out of the way. As he did so, he was able to see the contraption that Penny built. Large, square, metal, a large wheel attached. It was difficult to describe in words. “Why are you working so hard on your science project?” He wasn’t sure why he asked that. It just slipped out of his mouth.

 

Penny, who previously was smiling in pride with her arms folded, looked over at Rudy. She placed her hand on her handiwork and said, “This is not just a science project, Rudy. Perpetual motion has been a dream of scientists for for centuries!”

 

Rudy looked at Penny, unsure of what to make of what she said. Despite her explaining some more, he still had no idea just what it was. But he didn’t have the heart to try to interrupt her. So he just let her continue on. Maybe at some point, she would tell him what it was so he could better understand why it was such a big deal.

 

Penny leaned in towards the monitor and keyboard that was attached to the machine. “And I believe I have just uncovered the solution.” She smiled and began to type on the keyboard. “All I have to do now is type in my new formula and...”

 

Suddenly, Penny froze. Rudy stared at her in confusion, wondering what was wrong. The smile was gone from her face, and instead replaced with what could be best described as horror. The scream that accompanied it completed the picture. Rudy followed her gaze and he couldn’t stifle the gasp of what he saw.

 

Reggie had taken the chalkboard and pulled it aside more. Without asking no less. Could he expect anything less from him? And not only did he steal it, but he had erased practically all of Penny’s work, replacing it with a game of Hangman. Reggie had a three letter word and he was trying to get these three kids to guess the right letter. Considering his reputation, he had a feeling that these three kids had no choice but to follow along with it.

 

Rudy narrowed his eyes at Reggie, feeling the pit of his stomach start to burn. He couldn’t believe just how thoughtless Reggie had been. Penny had worked really hard on that formula, and Reggie just destroyed it in a matter of seconds. He couldn’t begin to imagine just what Penny must feel right now.

 

But as much as Rudy would have wanted to say something, he knew he couldn’t. It wasn’t like Reggie was going to listen to him. If anything, he might just incur the bully’s wrath again. Besides, yelling at Reggie wasn’t going to bring the formula back. But..he did know what could...

 

Could he really do it, though? Could he do the unthinkable and bring in another human into ChalkZone? Could he really expose it to someone else like that, especially someone he hadn’t known for too long?

 

His thoughts were interrupted by Penny, who had stormed over and pushed the three students out of the way, her horror plastered fast staring at Reggie. In seconds, she adopted a more hostile stance, her shoulders hunched and hands formed into fists.

 

The bully seemed only slightly amused by Penny’s presence and hardly reacted to her aggressive stance. “Why, hello, Penny!” He said calmly, acting as if he didn’t do anything wrong.

 

Penny seethed at this. “Reggie Bullnerd, you erased my formula!” She pushed a finger against his chest. Reggie just glared at her. She moved her hands away and turned them palm facing up and moved them down lower, a clear gesture of agitation and desperation. “I need that formula to complete my science project!” Reggie leaned back as Penny moved her hand towards her machine to indicate what she meant.

 

If Penny was trying to make Reggie feel guilty, she failed miserably, which didn’t surprise Rudy. The bully simply motioned the clutched piece of chalk in his hand towards Penny and said nonchalantly, “Well I need one more leg to win the game!”

 

Rudy scowled at this, shaking his head in disgust. He watched as Reggie, as uncaring as usual, finished the game without saying another word to Penny. Not even a backhanded apology. Rudy didn’t pay attention to what Reggie said after that, and as the bully left, dragging the three kids with, he walked over closer and stopped a few feet away from Penny.

 

At this point, Penny seemed to have forgotten about Reggie and she turned her attention to the chalkboard. The pride and happiness that was there before was gone, replaced with depression and realization of what had just happened. Rudy could only watch in sympathy, his hands in his pockets, as Penny leaned against the board. She didn’t cry, but the gesture she made was enough for him to know what she was feeling.

 

“Oh Rudy...” Penny said softly, her voice laced in sadness. “All my work is gone...”

 

Rudy stared at this for a few moments. It was then that something clicked in his head. Any doubt that he had was pushed aside. He knew how to get Penny’s formula back. She had worked too hard on that to lose it now. He can deal with Snap’s anger later. He just didn’t feel right about just letting this go.

 

No..now was the time.

 

Rudy smiled as he pulled out a piece of magic chalk. He held it up and stared at it. This was it. There was no going back now. From here on out, everything was going to change. Whether it be for the better or for the worse was up to Penny’s reaction.

 

“Penny,” Rudy said as he reached his hand over towards Penny. “I know how we can get your formula back.” He then showed her the magic chalk. Her eyes widened and she took a step back as she noted the glow and sparkling of it. “With this!”

 

Penny frowned and tilted her head in confusion. As if to try to find an explanation that made sense to her, she said, “Um...It’s just chalk, Rudy.”

 

Rudy just smiled and turned away from her. Just chalk right? Well he was going to show her just how wrong she was on that. He went over to the chalkboard and raised the piece up. This was it. He was really going to do it. ChalkZone was about to have a second human come inside in years. “Not just chalk, Penny.” Rudy drew a large rectangle on the board. “Magic chalk!”

 

Penny walked over, her wide eyes staring in awe, wonder, and fear as the rectangle soon gave way to an opening. Light shined through, and as they adjusted to the light, they could see what was on the other side.

 

ChalkZone.

 

Penny breathed, “Uh, I don’t think this is scientifically possible...”

 

Rudy couldn’t help but smile at this. He had expected her to say something like that. Given her intellectual mind, it must be hard for her to process what she was seeing. ChalkZone wasn’t like the Real World. There was so much possibilities here. Things that weren’t possible in the Real World was possible here. Any rules and laws of physics went to die here, and Penny’s whole perspective would be turned upside down.

 

Not wanting to waste anymore time, he grabbed onto Penny’s hands. “Come on, Penny!” He said gleefully. He then dragged her through the chalkboard excitedly.

 

Penny looked around. Instead of screaming or reacting in horror like he had expected, she simply seemed curious and more interested in trying to make sense of this place that she was now in. Rudy kept the smile on his face. This was a good sign. If Penny had screamed and run out to tell someone about it, he would have known he made a grave mistake and his friendship with her would be in jeopardy.

 

After a few seconds, Penny finally seemed to get her voice back. “What is this place...?” She said softly.

 

Rudy took a stance. He spread his hands outward, his smile growing bigger. He had been wanting to do this for so long, and now he finally had the chance. He just hoped that he didn’t just make a huge mistake.

 

“This is ChalkZone!”

 


End file.
